


Permutations

by Dexter1995



Category: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Canon Compliant, Comedy, Coming of Age, F/M, Friendship, Minor Original Character(s), Romance, slight AU, some drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 58,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28534110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dexter1995/pseuds/Dexter1995
Summary: With most things in life, some things change and some stay the same. And for the gang going into their junior year of High School, change is the main factor. Slight AU. (Read description in first chapter for more.) SxL with JxC later on. I don't own Jimmy Neutron or its characters. All rights go to John Davis and Nickelodeon.
Relationships: Elke Elkberg/Carl Wheezer, Jimmy Neutron/Cindy Vortex, Sheen Estevez/Libby Folfax
Kudos: 3





	1. Induction, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this back in 2015 on a different site and finished it several months ago. Though now just brought this work over to AO3. If enough of you all seem to enjoy it, I was also contemplating posting the sequel I'm still in the process of writing over here as well. Just let me know what you all would like! Okay, PSA over. Haha.  
> ****  
> I was watching some of my younger cousins and showing them cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. Jimmy Neutron, of course, came up and I just got inspired to write this and to take a break from writing for a current project on the site and just wanted to see how this would turn out. I was always a supporter of the SheenxLibby pairing and decided to base this around them with JimmyxCindy ofcourse and I don't think there is enough fanfiction dedicated to this pairing. This is basically set about 6-7 years after the Love Potion 976/J episode but the events that followed being altered from the show slightly being that Sheen and Libby are still just friends in high school and Jimmy and Cindy still being in absolute denial of their feelings with each other. I hope you enjoy it. :)

**(Libby's POV)**

I was still unpacking in my room.

Just before Sophomore year ended, I was listening to the radio and they were having a contest to win an all expenses paid trip to follow Graystar on their European tour for the past 6 weeks, also spending my 17th birthday out there.

Talk about the greatest birthday ever for me.

It was only for the first four callers and there was no way I was missin' out on it… and I WON!

It was so way beyond incredible! I saw them play at so many different and really cool venues and I was front row at all of them.

Luckily, I also still had 6 more weeks of summer left before school starts to still chill and do my own thing.

I was still unpacking stuff and I was sorting out everything I got on the trip. Okay, when I was in Milan in Italy, I might have maybe possibly gotten a few things…. Oh come on! Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world and there was no way I was passing up that opportunity.

In the middle of hanging up some of my new things from the trip when my phone started going off. I picked up instantly when I saw who was calling; Cindy.

I mainly txt but talking on the phone is an old grade school habit we still can't kick.

"Hey Cind, what's up?" I ask as I kept putting things away. "Eh, nothing really. How was the end of the tour?" She asks. "It was insane! You should've been there. I'm just putting stuff away, you should totally come see the new stuff I got when we were in Milan." I practically gush, I seriously couldn't help it.

"Ugh, I wish. I'm on my way to nerdtron's right now to see his latest invention, at his request, that'll probably just end up destroying the town. Want to come as a witness with me in case authorities are involved?" She offers.

I smirked and rolled my eyes. She's still in total denial.

No matter how many times her and even Jimmy say it after all these years, they are both still too stubborn to admit they have feelings for each other. Cindy especially is definitely the most vocal about her denial out of the two of them.

But Cindy's always been stubborn about almost everything ever since we met in Pre-K.

"Tempting but, I'm still unpacking and I gotta do some laundry from the trip, so I think I'm gonna pass on this one." I say. "Still want to hang out later then? You can just come over to hang out whenever you want, you know the drill." She says, knowing I'd get what she had in mind.

"Knock or use the key in the fake rock?" I reply. "Yup, see ya later." She says.

"See ya." I reply before hanging up.

* * *

I was done with everything and I'm sure Cindy probably wasn't back yet. But we have an open door policy with our houses.

Cindy and I have been best friends for 12 years and we're practically sisters and adoptive daughters to both our families. If I told Mr and Mrs Vortex I was just going to stay for a week they wouldn't even question it and it was the same for Cindy at my house.

Eh, I might as well just go hang out at her house and watch TV until she gets back.

I started to make my way to Cindy's and it was so hot out. I could feel myself sweating just from walking already.

I was flip flopping on the idea of going back to my house to get my swimsuit so I could hang out in the pool as I turned the corner where the Adler's house was when I saw something in their driveway.

It was a beige van that I knew all too well with ' _Estevez Heating and Air Conditioning'_.

Mr. Estevez must be on a call.

He's probably been busy with this heat wave and everyone's air conditioners breaking down.

I smiled a little and shrugged, thinking I'd just say hi.

I was walking to find Mr. Estevez when I heard, "HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

_What?_

I looked in the Adler's backyard and my confusion was confirmed when I saw Sheen.

_Wait, what's Sheen doing here? And… why is he chasing a squirrel?_

"Get back here you stupid squirrel! I didn't hear a bell! GET OVER HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!" He yells as he kept chasing this squirrel.

I was biting my lip and didn't know whether to laugh or feel completely embarrassed.

I was still watching as Sheen jumped and was able to grab the squirrel. "HA! Got ya you stupid, furry tailed rat! Whatcha gonna do now?" He taunts smiling winningly at the squirrel.

Well, he did have it until the squirrel bit him, causing Sheen to yelp and let go.

"OW! HEY! I'm not done with you!" He yells and runs after the squirrel again. I quickly glanced over my shoulders to see if anyone was watching me… or what was going on with Sheen as I walked into the yard.

As I got closer, the squirrel ran up a tree and Sheen was looking up and yelling, "That's right! Run you coward! I bet you're the same squirrel that stole my Ultralord and used it as a nutcracker that one time! Or… maybe you're his brother, or his uncle, or a third cousin 4 times removed… either way you're going down!" He kept yelling up the tree and it wasn't until I was close that I realized what Sheen was wearing.

Or at least what was written on the back of his dark blue shirt that gave me a hint, ' _Estevez Heating and Air Conditioning'_.

_Wait, what?_

"Sheen?" I say, inflecting my voice. He came out of his irrational squirrel episode thing and looked at me. He whipped his body around. "Oh… uh, hey Libs, what's… oh, uh… okay, this isn't what it looks like." He says putting his hands up, probably knowing I saw what just happened.

I was still looking him over still not entirely believing it. Sheen was wearing dark blue jeans with a dark blue short sleeve polo with his name etched into the right pectoral and black sneakers.

"Look do you wanna just keep what I just saw between us?" I offer. He smiled at me a little at me and said, "You got it."

I smiled back. "So… what's going on? I see you got some new duds." I point out.

"Yeah, I'm working for my dad now." He explains, wiping off his forehead.

He really was drenched in sweat. His shirt was completely pitted out, definitely from the heat and probably from… whatever that was I just saw with the squirrel.

"You're working with your dad? When did this happen?" I say. I was a little surprised and curious.

"Sheen, are you done with the Adler's? I'm closing up soon son." I heard and realized it came from a walkie talkie attached to Sheen's belt. Sheen whipped it out and said, "Yeah dad, pretty much. I'm coming back."

We were just standing there and I smiled a little at him again as he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Guess I should probably get my stuff?" He says and tried to walk away. "Hey wait, when did this happen?" I ask, wanting to know when he started working for his dad. "Eh… Couple weeks ago." He says.

I knew there was more to it than that, but I'll ask that later.

But, now it was making more sense since Sheen always seemed like he was _up to something_ halfway through this past year and c'mon let's face it, Sheen's not exactly a mysterious kinda guy.

Yeah, he's eccentric and extremely... _unique_ but definitely not mysterious.

"So… what went on before the _squirrel situation_?" I ask a little teasingly and smirked a little at him.

I was still trying not to laugh.

"Hey, don't judge me. Well, I was just replacing a wire in this when that thing jumped at me. Stupid rat was living in the unit and probably chewed the wire." He explains, and it surprisingly made sense for something involving Sheen.

"Hey, you were at that concert thing, right?" He asks as he was packing up his tools. "Yeah, it was so cool you have no idea. I just got back today." I explain as Sheen stood up and then he put a black cap on his head.

I couldn't help but smile a little again. I don't really consider this… _ensemble_ he's wearing fashionable by any means but I did have to admit that he did look pretty cute in the uniform.

"Well, I gotta get going." He says and then starts to walk away. "Hey… Sheen, are you doing anything later?" I ask. "No, why?" He asks.

"Do you want to maybe hang out at my house and just chill later?" I ask. "Yeah, yeah sure! But, uh… I think I'm gonna shower first." He says looking at himself.

"Just come over whenever. It doesn't matter." I say with a shrug and smile at him. He smiled back at me.

"You got it chica!" He says and gets closer to me. "Uh Sheen, wai…" It was too late. He was already hugging me and I could feel my shirt soaking up his sweat from his.

_Ugh, gross._

But I knew it was hopeless to try and stop it. I just shrugged it off as much as possible and gave in as I tried to ignore it and smiled as I hugged him back.

* * *

I was back at home and washed up so I wasn't completely disgusting for the rest of the day.

I was getting something out of my closet when I saw something lodged in the corner on my closet that made me glance back. It was a box. I grabbed it and opened it slightly as I smiled a little to myself. It was the valentine and Ultralord action figure that Sheen gave me several Valentine's Days ago.

Okay, I'll just admit it. I maybe kinda have a little _thing_ for Sheen.

Before that Valentine's Day, I really didn't know what to call Sheen and I.

I mean, we were kind of sort of friends-ish.

It was still elementary school and those things were complicated.

But then I didn't know what happened.

The day before that Valentine's Day, I was reading a magazine in my living room and I kept hearing a weird sound coming from outside my house, only for me to go into shock, confusion, and total embarrassment when I saw Sheen spazzing out and leaping around in front of my house in his Ultralord mask.

Of course it was some _U_ _ltralord related thing_ that he was doing, but I was just so initially embarrassed that I just wanted him to go away… until he stopped me and gave me his favorite Ultralord action figure and asked me to go out with him on Valentine's Day.

That was when I kinda felt something… _change_. I really did feel a little touched that he gave me his favorite action figure. Sure it was just an action figure and kind of juvenile, but I knew that for Sheen this was kind of a big deal with him giving that to me.

Then we had that kind of sort of _date_ the next day and sure it had it's very _bizarre_ qualities like most things that involve Sheen. But I knew he was only doing what in his mind was _romantic_ and I thought it was sweet.

A geeky and really weird kind of sweet, but still sweet.

It also ended with us working on just being friends and we got to be really good friends after that, especially in middle school. Behind Cindy, as shocking and weird as it still is to me, Sheen is my next best friend at this point.

Like I said, it's still totally crazy to think about. Especially considering how completely different Sheen and I are in almost every way possible.

I'm pretty grounded, mature, chilled out, and rational.

Sheen is spastic, eccentric, irrational, off the wall, and a little geeky with his still obvious _Ultralord obsession_. But other than that… we get along really well and kind of balance each other out.

While I try to stay grounded and conscious of what everyone thinks of me... Sheen really doesn't and he kind of pulls me into that mind set sometimes.

Like with that first Valentine's Day thing where he practically built me that _shrine_ in front of his house and not caring what anyone else in his neighborhood thought about it.

Meanwhile, I try to do whatever I can to keep him from _flying to high off the handle..._ or you know, as much as I can do.

Also… there's something else… I _like_ him.

Like a little beyond just some crush and just thinking he's cute.

Ever since the beginning of Freshman year, my feelings toward him kind of went a little past the line of just being really good friends. Also, I take back what I just said about having a _little thing_ for him.

Like I legit have a _thing_ for him.

Cindy knows and still thinks I'm totally insane for thinking about him in that way, which I understand where she's coming from. Sheen, even though he's 18, is still pretty immature for a guy his age most of the time, is still completely clueless, naive, obnoxious, and like I said before with him being pretty much maximum _ADHD_.

But, at the same time, I also really don't care.

I want to be more than friends with Sheen. There, I said it!

Aside from all his _quirks_ , to put it nicely, I do really like him in that way. He's gotten even cuter and a little more _mature looking_ since back then.

He's sweet, he's a really nice guy, and he's always had my back.

Now that we've worked more on our friendship, I really would want more with him, but there's just one little, irritating, and flustering problem… Usually guys gain confidence with girls as they get older and learn to take hints better.

But… not with Sheen.

For a guy that still likes to flirt with me on an almost daily basis, he's still clueless when it comes to _hints_ when it was just the two of us.

 _Especially_ when it is just us alone.

For the past year, I have been trying everything to let him know I'm interested… and yet he seems like he just doesn't get it.

One time me, Sheen, Carl, Jimmy, and Cindy all went to the movies and I was sitting in the chair next to the wall of the theater and Sheen was in the only seat next to me and I literally tried everything.

I tried scooting as close to him as possible, resting my head on his shoulder a little, trying to brush my hand against his… and I got zip, zero, zilch, nada from him.

But I know, why can't I just tell him I'm interested in him?

Because I don't want our relationship to start that way. I want it to be entirely mutual and natural when something happens with us and not be forced.

But I'm far from giving in or up.

I just hope I can accomplish it before I go completely insane and maybe when Sheen comes over tonight… I might have a chance at a little possible _progress_ this time.

I hope...


	2. Induction, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kind of leaves off where chapter 1 ended. These first two chapters are basically meant to build background for the future and thought you'd like part 2 of the first chapter to help form a solid opinion. Enjoy!

**(Libby's POV)**

"Sheen can you get your feet off the couch. Your shoes are going to stain it and my mom will flip." I say, thinking that my mom especially would flip if she found marks on the couch, even if it was just the basement couch.

"Easy babes, I got this." He says casually as he kicks off his shoes to the floor and smirks as he puts his arms behind his head. Here goes the cute nicknames again… ugh, I wish he'd _actually_ do something.

Then it hit me as I looked at his feet next to me. It was… _ugh, disgusting_.

"Sheen, is that your... feet? I thought you showered?" I say trying to push his feet away.

"Yeah! I showered. C'mon, you know you like it. You can't resist." He taunts with a smirk, trying to put one of his feet in front of my face and I immediately shove it away and protested, "Sheen, seriously… that is straight up nasty."

"You call it nasty… I call it _macho_." He says wiggling his brows at me. I rolled my eyes.

_This… is… so… frustrating! Why won't he ever just make an actual move?!_

But, I still really like him. He still may be gross sometimes and immature but he's just so cute and sweet.

What am I doing wrong?! What? Do I need to pin him down and make out with him to make him _get the picture_?

Wait, maybe… no, no way. I don't want it to go down like that. I'm flustered… not desperate, or totally out of my mind.

"Don't push it." I reply and push his legs off the couch, making him lose his balance and fall on the floor. I smirked a little at him. He looked back at me before grinning at me.

* * *

We found something on TV and were back to our usual hang out. Well, usual for having Sheen over anyway.

Things that usually don't happen when most people hang out… well, those things are what happens when Sheen comes over to hang out with me, whether it's just us or a group.

He just has that inability to just sit and do nothing and right now… I really have no idea what to think of what he's doing for a nervous habit. Still, Sheen's a guy that could have a lot of potential if he applied himself, but of course still doesn't.

And right now, it was happenin' again. Sheen was walking around on his hands in a handstand, which is impressive and I gotta give him props for it.

But at the same time weird to do in any situation. Then he grabbed his can of purple flurp with his feet and was able to drink it upside down, still a handstand.

As weird as this is… I also still can't help but be impressed. That actually takes some skill.

"Whoa, hey Libby, I can feel the flurp going into my brain… it feels… _fizzy_." Sheen says, looking totally in the moment.

This would be the point if everyone was hanging out when Cindy would lean over to me and make a remark like, " _And you like him again, why?"_ Then I would just give her a look. To be honest I think his juvenile behavior is kind of cute sometimes.

Weird but totally cute and harmless.

Then he sneezed and fell on the floor from the handstand and yelled for a second in pain before yelling, "AH! It burns!" as he put his hands over his nose. I snorted out a laugh, knowing that he probably got some in his nose.

Like I said… it's cute, even if he's 18 and still acts like this.

I was about to check on him when he sprung up with _that_ expression on his face and he said, "That… was… AWESOME! I'm going for round two."

Then he almost immediately went back into a handstand. Then I smirked and also felt myself blush a little at the same time when something else happened as he was drinking the purple flurp upside down again.

I smiled a little and also felt myself blush a little at the same time when his shirt fell down a little toward his face.

Don't judge me… I don't care that I'm pretty much checking him out right now. You can call Sheen whatever you want, but he's _not too bad_ from my standpoint. But look it's not just in _that way,_ I like how he's always been _real_.

Sure it's a very weird kind of real, but I always really respect how Sheen doesn't change himself for anyone. He's always been just… _him_.

I also found out how he started working for his dad.

I guess while I was gone, Jimmy did an experiment that extremely backfired big time and Sheen ended up getting seven stitches in his head and the doctor basically told him to back off from hanging around Jimmy's experiments for a while and Sheen's dad agreed.

How no one ever told me about it I have no idea?

Also apparently when Sheen wasn't able to hang out with us during second semester Freshman year, he was actually doing an apprenticeship and training with his dad in heating and air conditioning so he could work with his dad and take over their family business when Mr. Estevez retires.

That and Sheen wanted a job to make some money which I though was quite a… _mature_ decision of him and I really respected it.

Also, Sheen's lucky that he does get along well with his dad so he actually really liked working there. And I'll even admit just like I did earlier, Sheen really did look cute in the uniform.

But other than that, he was still the same Sheen I always knew.

* * *

Sheen went back home and I went up to my room.

I was still annoyed that nothing happened, but I'm not giving up and I will try harder this year to make him get it.

But, it was nice to see him after being gone for 6 weeks though.

I just have no idea what I'm not doing to get him to want to be more than friends. Not just friends with him making cute and weird flirting comments to me… I mean like us actually being a _thing_ , like a boyfriend and girlfriend thing.

Then I jumped when I heard knocking on my door. "Yeah?" I say. "Hey baby." My mom says and comes in and gives me a kiss on the forehead. Usually people get embarrassed when their parents do this but I don't really mind. I know my mom only does this because she loves me.

"What's going on?" I ask. "Oh, nothing. Just wanted to give you something that came while you weren't here for your birthday. Good night baby." She says and kisses my forehead again as she handed me something and then walked out of my room and shut the door.

I looked down and I had no idea how to react. It looked like a poorly wrapped and heavily taped up _something_ with Ultralord wrapping paper… Sheen.

_He actually remembered my birthday and actually got me something?_

I smiled as I started tearing at the heavily wrapped and taped up thing, not even caring really what it was. Cindy hasn't even gotten me anything yet.

I finally got it open and I immediately went into a state of shock.

"No… way." I say quietly to myself, still in shock.

Am I dreaming? Am I seriously holding this in my hands right now? Oh my God!

It was the Guys to Boys Greatest Hits album with 3 never before heard bonus tracks! It was released the day after I left and was only released for a limited time and was already sold out worldwide by the time I reached Europe… it was almost devastating to me that I wasn't able to get it.

Then it finally clicked in my head… Sheen got this for me. I know it sounds stupid and cliche but my heart literally just fluttered a little just now. I was back to that touched feeling again like when he gave me Melty face that one Valentine's Day.

This was what I meant by Sheen's just a really sweet guy… well, at least with me. But, I still just don't get it. Sheen obviously still likes me and now I like him beyond just being friends… so, what's he waiting for? Why won't he…

Then my phone went off and I picked it up still lost in my head and smiling. "Hello?" I say. "Hey Libby, remember me? Your best friend for the last 12 years? Where the heck are you?!" Cindy complains, sounding extremely confused and put out into the phone.

_Oh… crap, I totally forgot about going over to Cindy's today._

Well, it's official. I just kinda blew off Cindy to hang out with Sheen.

Yeah, I'm feelin' the guilt big time right now... but also not really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's going to happen next? Find out next time. Thank you for reading and I always appreciate reviews. I always love to hear from my readers so don't be shy. Have a great weekend!  
> Stay classy!  
> Dexter1995


	3. Outset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the latest installment!

**({No POV})**

The first semester of the gang's junior year began.

In Mr. Harris's 20th century world history class, the topic of world war I was just concluded and today was a debate where students were given topics to discuss the sides and differences of each one and of course who got the corresponding topic and both having two completely different views?

Jimmy Neutron and Cindy Vortex.

"...And that is why America _should_ have joined the League of Nations." Cindy concludes.

"And I say the United States _should not_ have joined the League of Nations as they did because it would have drastically altered today's 21st century technological society." Jimmy rebuts.

"Really? So you're saying that by the US taking no responsibility to stop the beginning events of world war II or not helping to create world peace was not an entirely ignorant, poor, and stupid choice?" Cindy retaliates.

"If it wasn't for the events of world war II then an even greater war could have resulted later on because of the League of Nation's ineffectiveness when it came to enforcement of the law. Not to mention that the events of the war also lead to some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in the history of mankind." Jimmy refutes.

"Oh come on you are only saying that about world war II because it gave Einstein his 15 seconds of fame for helping to create a stupid bomb that killed thousands of innocent Japanese citizens." Cindy says defiant, narrowing her eyes at him.

"They only dropped those bombs because Japan refused to surrender and attacked Pearl Harbor when the United States wasn't even part of the war yet." Jimmy spits back.

"Yeah, that was a _fair_ exchange, bombing two places in exchange for one? Face it Neutron, what you just said is completely ludicrous and according to your logic, you are basically giving me the gist that because you won't see my side of this subject that I should just drop a bomb on you?" Cindy spits back.

Jimmy got in her face, which seemed more intimidating now than it did in the past, though Cindy would never admit anything like that when it came to Jimmy or anyone for that matter.

In middle school and Freshman year, Jimmy finally hit a growth spurt and went from being the shortest in his grade to one of the tallest, behind Nick and Sheen.

Jimmy looked on the edge and started, "Vortex, you are so…"

"Enough! I asked for a debate on the subject of whether the United States should or should not have joined the League of Nations, not a verbal assault. Please take your seats, Mr. Neutron… Miss Vortex." Mr. Harris says and Jimmy and Cindy were still giving each other death glares from across the room as they returned to their seats.

"Well, that was _interesting_. I'll give you both A's for historical accuracy… but try to _dial it down_ to be more civil in the future. Any questions?" Mr. Harris inquires as he looks around the room.

Sheen shot up his hand and yelled, "Mr. Harris, I got one!"

He cringed before responding, "Ugh, this is going to be a long semester. Yes… Mr. Estevez."

"Who was that German guy with pointy helmet, again?" Sheen asks. "Otto von Bismarck." Mr. Harris replies. "Man, even his name sounds cool! He's also got a really sweet stash. How do you think he made it look like that?" Sheen asks.

"I have no idea. Now…" "Hey, what does the 'von' stand for? Is it his middle name? Or is it a…" Sheen starts before Cindy looks behind her and belts out in frustration at Sheen, "Will you can it already?! Sorry Mr. Harris."

Then Sheen _coughed_ into his hand as he said, "uh huh, suck up, uh huh." Then Cindy turned and gave him a glare even though deep down she knew she had it coming for snapping at him, while Sheen was looking at her defensively with his hands up.

Meanwhile Libby was looking at the two of them and rolled her eyes as she smiled a little to herself at the not out of the ordinary exchange between Cindy and Sheen.

Even though Cindy has become more tolerant of Sheen over the years and was able to hang out with him, he still secretly grates on her for no particular good reason. It was basically her still thinking he was completely immature and irritating at times.

But to Libby, that wasn't a surprise.

**(Libby's POV)**

Me and Britney were laughing in the hall at the end of school as she caught me up on the gossip that I missed at the beginning of the summer. I couldn't find out anything cuz as soon as I got back she went with her parents to their summer house at the lake.

It was also passing the time while we waited for Cindy to show up from her chemistry class, which Britney is apart of so I was wondering what's holding her up.

"No. Are you kidding?" I comment, not believing what she just told me. "No joke. Crazy, right?" She says and we both laugh.

Then Cindy finally showed up and complained that she was late because her and Jimmy kept arguing over how to word a question on a lab sheet. But… I still know the _real_ truth of what really lies beneath.

We kept talking and then Britney finally said, "Okay, I swear like something must have happened over the summer with the guys. They're almost all hot, I swear… Right Cindy?" Britney and I both had that look as we laughed a little at Cindy looking flustered and annoyed.

"What are you saying?" Cindy retorts. "Oh like c'mon Cindy. You know _exactly_ what I'm saying." Britney says with a smirk and wink at Cindy, referring to Jimmy. Cindy's eyes widened in shock.

Like I said, I knew. Jimmy's changed a lot in the past couple years and I know for a fact that Cindy has it even worse for him now than she did in elementary school. They both have it bad for each other but just won't admit it.

But Cindy is just weaving a web of lies right now that she won't admit that she's even more into Jimmy big time. Also, Cindy is still a straight up liar when she denies it. Trust me, I've seen Cindy checking him out a lot during passing period, especially since school started this year.

Plain and simple, Cindy is _still_ in total denial.

Cindy tried to shrug it off and replied, "Ugh, yeah right and I don't like him so don't even think about it. I'd rather suck up cow snot through a straw than put my lips anywhere near _him_." "Whatever you say, Cind." I comment and grin knowingly at her.

"Also, say what you want and it sounds weird coming from me but… I'll admit it. Sheen's even kinda _up there_ now." Britney admits and Cindy and I both shook her a look. "Like, what?" Britney says, raising an eyebrow at us.

"Eww, Britney. Sheen? Are you officially out of your mind?" Cindy says, totally shocked and weirded out, and I add, "Really Britney? You make fun of me for liking him and yet now your sayin' this? Besides, what happened to the whole _Nick is so perfect thing_?"

"I'm over it. I mean like, he's hot but, he's just… such an… ass." She defends. She's right. Neither me or Cindy was gonna say anything against her on that one.

As each year went by, I'll admit it, Nick did get hotter each year… but he also turned into a straight up self-centered jerk.

At first he was that cute, hunky bad boy that all of us crushed on as kids but then it was like his looks just officially went straight to his greased up head and turned him into a… well, Britney said it, an ass. And now I was actually kind of glad to hear she was over him.

But still, Sheen? Now she's just being a huge hypocrite.

"Anyway… I know it's weird. But I'll admit it, Sheen's kind of… hot." Britney admits as Cindy and I still gave her weird looks. But I also felt slightly… _jealous_ in a really weird way.

I'll admit it.

I get jealous when I hear stuff like that from other girls about him, but I'm also still weirded out by the fact that Britney said it.

"FREEDOM!"

I whipped my head around to see Sheen rounding a corner in an all out sprint with face paint in the school colors on his face and... the school flag? He probably took it from Mr. Benton's, the football coach's, room and he was wearing it like a cape.

That boy… is totally out of his head. But to be fair Sheen's never been fully in his head. Ugh, but I still have it _so_ bad for him that I almost feel pathetic sometimes.

He also wasn't wearing any shoes either, just socks. He started to slide on his socks down the hall and went down the ramp in the all and kept getting faster.

"I! REGRET! NOTHING!" He yells as he kept going. I had no idea how to react until I cringed when he hit a door that opened in his path in the hall and fell over.

"Still Regret Nothing!" He yells raising a hand in the air from the ground. I was back to that borderline laughing and embarrassed feeling. But, this is what I get for crushing on a guy who's main goal in high school is to be voted class clown senior year and not actually graduating like most of us.

Sheen's goal is to at least do one prank a week and everyday homecoming week this year and… I just saw this week's. "But… he's still like totally _not_ my type." I heard Britney say.

Then she walked past me, grinned at me, and said, "He's all yours... Go get 'em." I rolled my eyes and smiled a little as I walked over to Sheen, who was still laying on the floor.

I looked at him and he grinned up at me. "Hey _baby cakes_ , what's happenin'?" He asks, flirting with me… _again_ , as he winked.

"What's happenin' with me? What's happenin' with you?" I say back. "All part of the plan, Libs. What do you think?" He asks, his expression still flirting as he grinned at me and shifted his brows up at me.

"I think... you agree to never call me 'baby cakes' ever again and I'll lend you a hand." I offer and held out my hand.

He smirked at me and replied with a wink again, "You got it, my _lady_." Seriously his flirting sometimes annoys me to the point where I wish I could just slap him upside his head and give him the high school version of _the speech_ like; ' _So, are gonna make a move and ask me out or what?'_.

But I held back. I still have patience to wait for him to finally make a move. I helped him up and decided to try again. "Well, see ya Sheen." I say and rub my hand down his arm a little with a slight smirk. Then I just walked away, not even looking for a reaction.

I will keep givin' that boy hints until he gets it through his thick head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the JxC interaction with them still having heated arguments with each other. Thank you so much for reading and please tell me your thoughts. I love would to hear more of your opinions.


	4. Fine Lines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! I finally got around to writing another chapter. I hope you all enjoy it! :)

**({No POV})**

It was after school and Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen were walking home like usual.

"Uh Jimmy, what are you doing?" Carl asks, looking at Jimmy who was currently looking at his watch. "I'm working on a new botanic gene splicing project to help prevent poor crop supply." Jimmy explains as he continues to study what was on the screen of his watch.

"Botanic? What do robots have to do with crops?" Sheen says confused.

"No Sheen, not robots. Botany is term for studying plants. I'm developing a gene that can be injected into any sort of plant genetic code to make it resistant to occasional frosts and diseases." Jimmy explains.

"So, that means?..." Sheen says, still looking completely confused. "It means that this could possibly end world hunger." Jimmy elaborates, still zeroed in on what he was doing.

"Speaking of hunger, I'm starving." Carl says.

"Yeah, I could totally go for an ultimate sundae at the Candy Bar." Sheen says. "Yeah, let's go Jim." Carl says, definitely up for the idea.

"Yeah okay guys, just let me check on my sample at the lab and we can take the hover car." Jimmy says, but then he jumped slightly as he got an alert on his phone and pulled it out of his pocket, that was an advanced smartphone to begin with until Jimmy added some _tweaks_ of his own to it.

He rolled his eyes at what he was looking at on the screen.

"What's up with you?" Sheen asks, seeing Jimmy's annoyed expression. "It's Cindy, she's been driving me crazy with our lab report in Chemistry. She was the one who wanted to be lab partners with me and she just has to complicate and argue about everything we do." Jimmy explains, looking irritated.

"Yeah, I'm sure their _chemistry_ is very _complicated_." Sheen jokes knowingly to Carl, nudging Carl's shoulder a little, and then both of them started laughing.

"Guys, how many times do I have to say that I don't like her?" Jimmy shoots back, overhearing Sheen. "Sure you don't, Jim." Carl says, knowingly. "Face it Jimmy, Libby's right when she said you're both so lame for each other." Sheen says back, still teasing his friend about his denial.

Although Jimmy isn't as blunt about his defensiveness about that particular topic as Cindy usually is, they both still display the same rivalry toward each other. But in Jimmy's defense, Cindy is more of an instigator when it comes to what usually occurs between them. Also her still calling him 'spewtron' or 'nerdtron' on a daily basis probably didn't help either.

Basically Cindy just keeps _poking the bear_ whenever she and Jimmy are around each other, clearly not helping the cause much and still keeping up the rivalry they've had since they were in kindergarten.

But the entire school has a _secret bet_ , that Sheen started, going for how long it was going to take for them to finally hook up and start dating, since everyone has known about their crushes on each other since the fourth grade.

But it was clear so far that neither Jimmy or Cindy's stubbornness was giving an inch on that subject.

Clearly by the fact that Jimmy rolled his eyes just now, he was still not giving in.

But Libby, Sheen, and Carl know the real truth of what Jimmy and Cindy secretly really thought about each other.

**(Sheen's POV)**

YES! I scored a copy of the newest Ultra Lord video game!

This was the first one to have an M rating for extreme violence and I was able to get SO easy since I'm 18! Now I finally have it! Bring on the violence and explosions!

Oh man this is gonna be sweet!

**(Libby's POV)**

I was going over to Sheen's to give him back his face paint from earlier that he shoved into my backpack and told me to hide them just in case the principal was going bust him with it when he pulled his little _stunt_ in the hallway earlier today, before I even knew what exactly he was going to do.

But, I forgot to give it back and so I just walked over to Sheen's house to bring it back.

I still can't believe I actually went along with it earlier, or why he thought he'd get busted for face paint when he confiscated the school flag… but I saw him put it back. I walked up to the door and knocked and Mr. Estevez answered the door.

"Oh, buenas noches Libby. You're out late for a school night. Please come in." He says, smiling at me.

To be honest, I've always really liked Sheen's dad. He's a really nice guy and he's probably one of the most chilled out people I've ever met. Something Sheen didn't pick up, but that's just who he is.

"Yeah, I just wanted to stop by to bring something back to Sheen that I forgot about." I explain. "Oh, well Sheen should be upstairs playing a new game he came home with up in his room if you want to talk to him." He says.

"Thanks Mr. Estevez." I say, smiling at him as I start to walk upstairs. "You're welcome, are going to stay long Libby?" He asks. "No I'm probably going to go back home. I have some homework I still have to do." I say.

"Well, you know that you are always welcome here whenever you want." He says and I smiled as I said after a while, "Thanks."

I think even Mr. Estevez has picked up on the fact that I like Sheen and also probably knew that Sheen liked me way before I really started to like Sheen back.

Then again Sheen's not that hard to figure out in that area. Yeah Sheen's unpredictable and _off the wall_ but when it comes to a lot of stuff like this, he can be totally easy to read.

Which I think is another reason why his dad always been really nice to me. Because I'm probably the only girl that has actually shown any interest in Sheen, but I still think it is mostly that he's just really nice and that I'm one of Sheen's best friends.

I walked up stairs and it didn't even take me one step when I heard a loud explosion sound coming from Sheen's room as he shouted, "Take that Robo-Fiend!"

_Well, he got an Ultra Lord video game… shocker._

Again, this is the price I pay for liking Sheen. But I give Sheen props for getting better with his _Ultra Lord obsession_. Mainly with the fact that he finally stopped carrying around an action figure with him at school and in public 24/7.

I looked into his room and saw him sitting in front of the TV in his room, probably a little too close to the TV, as he kept playing the game. But I will admit that his _nerdy habits_ wore off on me a little over the years.

I was never really into video games until Sheen got me to play some with him. Personally I still like listening to music and reading more, but video games aren't too bad.

I smiled a little as I crossed my arms and leaned in the doorway.

I knocked on the door frame before saying, "Hey Sheen." He whipped his head around and then he smiled when he saw it was me. "Hey Libs, what's happenin'?" He asked and then he frantically was trying to turn off everything on the TV and immediately walked over to me.

"You forgot this." I said, showing him the two bottles of face paint and waving them in front of his face slightly. "Oh yeah, thanks. I forgot about that." He said as he took them and he just threw them behind him, not even caring about it as he kept looking at me and smiling.

It was quiet and I didn't really know what to say to leave without sounding weird.

"So… uh, do you wanna hang out?" He asks with me a slightly hopeful look on his face.

To be honest, I really wanted to, but I knew I had to get home and do my homework. "No, I have to go… but you can walk back with me if you want to?" I say, smiling a little at him. His expression changed to a flirting smirk as he said, "Your word is my command, _my queen_."

I rolled my eyes and I turned around for a split second to quickly let out my pent up anger.

I am way beyond frustrated with him.

Seriously?! What is keeping him from making a move?!

* * *

We got back to my house and I was waiting for him to make a move to hold my hand or something. We've held hands back when we were kids, so what's stopping him now?

I even tried brushing my hand against his a few times to give him the hint… nothing. We eventually got on my front porch outside my front door.

"Well, I'll see ya tomorrow, okay?" I say as I looked up at him slightly and he smiling back at me, but I couldn't help but read something else coming off him as he said a little nervously, "Oh yeah, right, cool. So… uh. Night Libs."

He gave me a hug like he usually would, but... it felt _different_ as we backed away. His hands were resting on my sides and my hands were on his shoulders. Our eyes making direct contact with each other and I was not about to look away, not like I was able to right now anyway.

_Is this happening?_

_Was this it? Was he finally going to make a move?_

I was waiting for him to do something… until he all of a sudden hugged me again and then backed away, rubbing the back of his neck, looking completely nervous and awkward.

"Well, uh, night Libby." He said again and I thought I saw his face turn red. As much as I just wanted to smack him, I held back and forced a smile and just said, "Night Sheen."

He smiled at me before walking away.

Okay, I just need to back up a little bit here. He likes me and he has to see I like him too… so what is that boy's deal?!

Why won't he just go for it?!

**(Sheen's POV)**

I slammed my door shut as I jumped on my bed and started just smacking myself on the head.

"UGH! Idiot!" I yell through my teeth, trying not wake up my dad.

AM I SERIOUSLY CHOKING RIGHT NOW?! I've been waiting for this forever and I'm actually choking about it?! Man, I'm sad! C'mon, man up and stop wussing out!

Geez, ever since that stupid thing when I went crazy with that phera- something or whatever that stuff was in Jimmy's lab that made me fall in love with Libby, I haven't been the same.

Even after I had to wear that stupid piece of cheese that was supposed to make it go away, it still didn't work. She's always in my head and I can't make her go away. But I don't even care anymore about it. I still feel that way about her.

Ugh, she's just so cool and sassy and beautiful and awesome. What can I say? She's still my main chica, my lady... _my queen_. I'd seriously do anything for her.

I always wanted her to be my girlfriend ever since that one Valentine's Day, but she wanted us to not go so fast and to just work on being friends, but I was okay with that. She's really my only real friend that's a girl and… okay fine I never really gave up on flirting with her.

But I never pushed her into anything with me. She just wanted to be friends and I was cool with that. Actually I was glad that she actually wanted to hang out with me a lot more and she's always had my back with stuff, even before we were actually friends.

I never even thought that she even thought the same way about me until about a year ago.

Or at least I think? AGH, I DON'T KNOW?!

I swear she's been flirting with me too and I think she actually likes me like that now and I really want to do something, but I DON'T KNOW?!

Does she like me like that?... Wait, did she want me to make a move back there and kiss her?

UGH! I really want to kiss her and finally make my move so bad!

But when I looked at her and she was looking at me like that back there… I choked!

What if she doesn't want me to do that? What if she still just wants to be friends? Friends don't kiss each other… or do they? UGH, I'M SO CONFUSED! WHY ARE GIRLS SO CONFUSING?! WHY IS SHE SO CONFUSING?!

MAN… ugh, I still want her to be my girlfriend so bad. I just wanna know what's going on in her head so I know if she actually likes me like that or not.

Does she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look's like Libby and Sheen have gotten caught up in that classic fine yet flustering line between friends and what's beyond that, even though the feeling is mutual between them now. What's going to happen next? You'll just have to wait and see. I hope you liked the slight Carl and Sheen interaction with them teasing Jimmy about Cindy in the beginning and I hope you liked the rest of the chapter as well. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can.


	5. Banter

**({No POV})**

It was 8th period chemistry class and everyone took their seats as their teacher Mr. Taylor walked into the classroom and started to write on the board.

"Okay, everyone. It's time to for your first class project." Mr. Taylor said and the class started groaning. "Now, now, it's not going to be that hard. You and your lab partner will be doing a project finding something that has to do with an element from the periodic table of elements and make a well thought out research project on it. It's due next week on Friday and I'm giving you the class period today to work on it. Off you go." He says and then sat at his desk.

Everyone started to talk about what they were going to do when at one particular lab table where Cindy took out a laminated periodic table and set it out on the desk.

Jimmy said, "The best route has to be researching a non-metal since…", but Cindy cut in, "No way Neutron, I say we do one of the metals on the periodic table since they are the most abundant and there are also more to choose from."

"Yeah, like everyone and their mother hasn't already chosen metals for a project because of that unoriginal logic." Jimmy scoffs as he rolls his eyes.

"Oh really, so you tell me then where I can just _waltz outside_ and find a visible gas to show Mr. Taylor when we present." Cindy retorts.

"Well, it beats doing the ridiculously overdone idea of using something like iodized table salt to represent sodium. By harnessing something like a noble gas, then we will be able to show more originality." Jimmy fires back.

"Oh yeah, like you know anything about originality and creativity for a guy that hasn't _mixed up_ his wardrobe style in over a decade." Cindy says back.

"Look Vortex, how about you pick something or…" Jimmy starts before Cindy cuts him off again, "Fine, then let's compromise and choose a metalloid. I say we pick Astatine since you're acting like such an…"

"Miss Vortex! I suggest you stop before you use inappropriate vocabulary in my class. Because of that I am now going to assign you and Jimmy to research Astatine since you both seem unable to decide on one like two young adults." Mr. Taylor says, making a note of what he just said in his grade book.

Meanwhile Jimmy and Cindy were glaring at each other and Sheen and Carl were looking at them from across the room.

Sheen was smirking as he said teasingly, "Aw, it's so _adorable_. They're still totally lame for each other." Carl snorted out a laugh before agreeing, "Yeah, definitely."

**(Libby's POV)**

I was answering questions from my history book when I heard Sheen, "Hey Libby, check this out! I can feel all my blood going to my brain."

I looked up and gave him weird look at what he was doing. He was doing a handstand with his hands gripped on the sides of a chair in my room. "What are you doing? Sheen come on, you need to stay focused if your gonna pass this year." I say.

Ever since middle school, I've been the one in charge of making sure Sheen stays focused and does his homework.

Look I'm no _A type_ student like Jimmy or Cindy, actually I'm more of getting one A and all B's kind of person, but I know what I'm doing and Sheen needs my help to stay focused so he doesn't get held back for a third time.

Also people, and by people I mean usually Cindy, think Sheen is an idiot. But, Sheen could actually be good in school if he actually paid attention, studied, and didn't play video games, watch TV, and eat candy 24/7.

Well, now I see why Jimmy gave up on making Sheen study, but on the bright side when Sheen comes over to my house to study with me, it does make it more interesting. Even if trying to make Sheen study is like pretty much talking to a rock.

"But I don't get it, this Shakespeare guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Also this makes no sense. ' _Wherefore art thou Romeo?'_ He's literally right in front of her face?! Juliet needs to get her eyes checked." He says annoyed and not getting it as he threw the book away.

To be honest though, I can't straight up read through that play either. Even I have no idea how to understand Shakespeare's style without looking up a summary in _actual_ English sometimes.

"C'mon Sheen, you just gotta read it. Ms. Jennings is giving us a quiz on it tomorrow." I say, picking up the book and giving it back to him to make him finish what he was supposed to do.

"Oh c'mon, we've being doing this forever." Sheen complains.

"Sheen, we've only been studying for 10 minutes." I point out. "Your point?" He replies. I let out a slight laugh and smiled a little as I said, "Look, okay, how about this? We study for the English quiz and read for the next hour and then we can watch TV or something. Deal?"

I held out my hand and he smirked at me as he shook my hand. "You got it." He said and winked at me. I was internally give him a beyond annoyed glare.

Look, again, and I know what you're all thinking. Why am I waiting for Sheen to make a move? I'm a strong and independent person, so why can't I just do it myself?

Look, I'm _definitely_ a modern person, but I am a little _classic_ when it comes to wanting to let the guy be the first to make a move in the relationship if possible. But right now I am getting to the point of finally just being upfront with him.

But… I'll give him a little more time to have his chance before I step up and take the lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know things seem slow right now, but I promise things are definitely going to pick up soon. I hope you liked the typical Jimmy and Cindy interaction and Cindy's attempt at using a colorful play on words. Haha. Thank you all so much for reading and please review. I'd really love to hear any feedback. Have a good one!
> 
> -Dexter1995


	6. Cohere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is another filler chapter to provide mainly more background for the story, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Plus a new Point of View was added. Enjoy!

**(Jimmy's POV)**

I walked into my room and threw my jetpack on my bed as I went to my desk.

I pulled out my desk chair to sit down and immediately turned on my computer. I had to check the delivery status of the new chemical isotope that I've saved up for. Not that it was that difficult to do.

Ever since several of my inventions were bought up by the government to be produced in mass, let's just say the royalties I receive are more than substantial. Sure my parents are holding onto the majority amount of it because I'm still under 21… and won't be 21 for a while, but I'm okay with it.

Besides, I'm still standing by my decision to use every cent of that capital toward science in the future.

I was waiting for my computer to turn on when… ugh, updates. I decided to go down stairs to get a Purple Flurp while I waited.

I went downstairs and saw my dad was sitting on the couch in the living room polishing his duck decoys like usual on Friday night. He noticed me walking through and smiled at me as he greeted, "Hey Jimbo! How's it going, son?"

"Hey dad, pretty good. I'm just getting a Purple Flurp while my computer finishes its updates." I say. "Oh hey, can you grab me one too. Using wood varnish is some thirsty work, you know?" He asks.

I smiled and said, "Sure dad."

Look I know by the mid and late phases of adolescence teenagers usually tend to be at the most odds with elders. But I've always had a great relationship with my parents.

Besides after the yolkians fiasco, hypnotizing my parents, trying to change my dad's personality so he'd be less embarrassing, and attempting to replace my mom for that one week with a robot… I've learned to stop trying to change my parents or complain.

My parents love me, and I love them, and they've never done anything that wasn't to my well being. Complaining about juvenile things like that has never helped me or anyone else ever and I've come to respect that.

Also realistically speaking all the greatest scientific minds in history; Curie, da Vinci, Einstein, Franklin, and Tesla; all had to submit to parental guidance and rules at some point during their lives.

It's just a small stipulation I have to deal with, at least until I officially go off to college once my time in high school is completed. But it's no big deal to me.

Point is, I still have a great relationship with my parents and I've finally learned not to take it for granite anymore.

Actually my life overall since I was in 5th grade has really improved quite a lot. Not just in the respect that my skills in inventing has exponentially improved over the last couple years… well, mainly my quality of life has improved due to one thing.

A little after 8th grade, I actually and _finally_ hit my growth spurt!

I know thats a weird thing to be happy about. But to me it was a simple biological goal I was hoping and waiting to achieve. I was always ridiculed for being short ever since I started school and no longer am I mocked for that reason.

Besides, due to the genotypic and phenotypic trait odds that I inherited from my parents, the odds of me not displaying the dominant allele for tallness were 237,750,000 to 1. So, basically I had an extremely high chance of eventually being tall to put it into simpler terms.

I walked back into the living room and saw my dad still polishing his duck decoys.

"Here you go dad." I say as I set his can down on the coffee table. "Ah, thanks Jimmy. Hey, do you wanna jump in and help me polish the Merganser?" He inquires as he smiles at me as he held up one of the other decoys on the table.

"Sorry dad, I'm trying to finish up some things to meet up with Sheen, Carl, and everyone at Retro-Land later. They just put in a new attraction that's opening tonight." I explain. "Oh, that sounds fun. You have fun with that, son." He says and lets me go back upstairs.

That was actually true.

They're opening a new rollercoaster at Retro-Land and hey, we haven't been there in a while. Besides, even I need to take a break once in a while from my work.

Sure Cindy's coming and she's been even more _on point_ than usual with me lately. I don't know why she's been acting even more irritable than usual toward me lately to intentionally try and start an arguement with me. Not to mention, most of the time probability and logic dictate that I'm usually right but I'm just hoping nothing more will happen to make her _stir the pot_ between us.

**_Later that evening_ **

**({No POV})**

Cindy and Libby got to Retro-Land and were waiting outside the entrance for Jimmy, Sheen, and Carl to show up.

Cindy had an annoyed expression on her face as she complained, "Ugh, will Huey, Louie, and Dorky just show up. What part of show up early did they not understand? We're going to get a horrible spot in line now."

Libby rolled her eyes and replied, "Cindy, just chill out. It's only been five minutes and Sheen told me he had a last minute call from his dad at work. They'll be here any second." Cindy looked like she was about to complain again until they noticed one of Mr. Estevez's company vans pull into the parking lot.

Sheen got out of the van and was still in his polo from work in the driver's seat and quickly take off his work shirt and he put on a T-shirt before he ran over to catch up with Cindy and Libby.

It wasn't long before they finally saw Jimmy's hover car pull in.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Cindy says, sounding annoyed as Jimmy walked up. "Hey, you try to stabilize a gene in record time to make it here." Jimmy retorts and just rolls his eyes as they got in line to buy their tickets.

They were standing there talking when Sheen started looking around until finally commenting, "Hey, where's Carl?" "Oh yeah, Carl told me that he wasn't going to be here. He and Elke rescheduled their video chat date for tonight." Jimmy explains.

"Okay, just still gotta put this out there, but… are we still sure nothing's _wrong_ with Elke… like in the head?" Sheen starts and does the corkscrew motion next to his head to indicate he thinks Elke might be slightly crazy.

Cindy cross her arms, rolled her eyes, and slightly indignantly commented, "Like how something's also wrong with your head?" Libby gave her a slightly hard look for what she said about Sheen causing her to elbow Cindy slightly in the side.

Sheen smiled and responded, "Yeah… HEY!" Realizing what Cindy about him

"Sheen, what are you talkin' about?" Libby asks, trying to look like she was attempting to understand exactly what his point was.

"Look, Carl's my best friend. He's like the brother I never had. But he's just… so… _Carl._ So are we still sure Elke may not be at least a little 'loco in the cabeza'?" Sheen explains further.

"Sheen they've been together almost 4 years, and why does it even matter?" Jimmy says, looking like he really didn't care about the point Sheen was making when it came to Carl's relationship.

Ever since Elke visited the United States with her parents and finally met Carl in person after almost a full year of writing to each other, though there were mutual lies that were eventually cleared up, they ended up just getting closer with each other.

Carl even saved up money at one point and spent half a summer after 8th grade in Sweden at Elke's family's farm. Even though their relationship was mostly still long distance, they are in a _definite_ serious relationship.

"Yeah, but look at her. She's insanely hot! How can she… OW!" Sheen shouted as he felt Libby stomp on his foot with a perturbed expression on her face.

Probably for a multitude of particular reasons.

**(Libby's POV)**

Sheen just drove me home in his dad's van and even walked with me up to my door… ugh, and still nothing.

Although after we got off the new rollercoaster, we decided to just go on the cable cars since there wasn't a line. It was just me and Sheen alone and I was _still_ giving him hints.

But this time… he actually did something!

Well, just holding hands with me, but hey, it was something. That and it shouldn't seem like something to happy about since we were pretty much back to the point we started at.

But, like I said, I can wait a little longer.

Besides, Sheen and I are working together on an English Project next week, so… Who knows? Something might happen. You never know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the monologue from Jimmy as well as the typical group interaction at Retro-Land with the Jimmy Neutron gang. Thank you so much for reading and please leave a review if you can. Trust me, there is so much more on the way.
> 
> Stay classy everyone!
> 
> -Dexter1995


	7. Bind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

**(Sheen's POV)**

Ah, one month 'til homecoming week, the perfect opportunity to pull off my master plan.

Well, one of them. But, I'll think about the other one later.

Back to my master plan for homecoming week. I have my pranks planned for each day of that week.

Monday, put a whoopie cushion on Mr. Harris's chair; Tuesday, make my recipe for fake vomit to use to get out of a test; Wednesday, glue Butch to his chair at lunch; Thursday, start a game of dodgeball in the hallway; and then there's Friday.

Friday night is the football game and I have a special plan in mind to top off the week to use during halftime. I grinned to myself as I looked at the final addition to my own _halftime show_.

This is gonna be awesome!

**(Jimmy's POV)**

I was trying to finish something up on my computer as I downed the last of my flurp.

I shook the can slightly to make sure it was empty before setting it on my desk and as I kept typing when I felt a scratch on my leg and a slight whine as I smiled to myself.

I looked down and saw Goddard scratching at my leg and looking at the empty can . I smiled as I grabbed the can and turned my swivel chair to face him. I fed the can to him and pat him on the head, "There you go boy."

He licked me and I laughed before saying, "That's a good boy, Goddard. You're such a…" "Jimmy! Cindy Vortex is here to work on your school project. She said she'll meet you by the clubhouse." My mom calls out.

I rolled my eyes and let out a groan as I responded, "Thanks mom!"

I looked at Goddard and pat him on the head a couple times before saying, "I'll be back, boy. Just go into sleep mode until further notice."

After Goddard went to his rest area to recharge, I made my way out to the club house.

Tonight Cindy and I are going to finish our chemistry project early so we didn't have to worry about it for the rest of the week and just turn it in to Mr. Taylor early. We were practically almost done with it anyway.

Even though the whole time Cindy's been nothing but… _difficult_ with me for no apparent reason.

I mean, we usually clash a little like we always have, but we were always usually able to get past it and work together. But ever since this school year started she's just been very short with me all the time and I have no idea what the reasoning she had for being that way was.

I just try not to make it worse and try to avoid talking to her too much.

Like when we were in that cable car at Retro-Land with just the two of us. I tried to not look at her or talk to her but… I don't know, a couple times I thought she was looking… never mind, there's not even concrete proof for what I just thought.

It was all hypothetical assumption.

With that I finally grabbed my notes from class and made my way out to the lab.

**_2 hours later_ **

"I think that just about wraps it up." I say and look to her to get her input before I printed the report. "I'd say so." She agrees and then she walks off to one of my lab tables that has all our notes on it.

It was almost like she was purposely trying to not acknowledge me.

I pressed the print button but I stood up from my control chair and looked at her in deep thought as I tried to process what was going on. I just didn't understand what was going on with her exactly.

She was the one who wanted to be lab partners with me at the beginning of the semester. She could have paired up with anyone.

Britney was in our class but she insisted that we should be lab partners saying it was the most logical choice that made the most sense. And I really didn't care since Carl and Sheen were already lab partners.

Also… look when we were 11, I never would have admitted it, but I've really come to respect Cindy. She was the only person I knew that seemed to challenge my intellect. Sure my IQ still surpasses hers by about 67 points, but I can truthfully admit that Cindy is an intelligent person and... I respect that.

But… I just still don't understand what has been up with her these last couple months.

Cindy's been on my case since kindergarten, but she's taken it to a whole new level these past couple months with how sharp she's been around me. And I wasn't about to let it slide anymore… I was going to find out why.

I walked over to her as she started to gather her stuff and put it back into her messenger bag.

I decided to give her one more chance.

I started to help her gather up her notes and was about to hand them back to her when she all of sudden aggressively snatched her papers away from me. I looked in her direction, about to give her a confused response, when I was stopped.

"Neutron, I don't need your help. I'm fine, okay?!" She snapped at me, completely blunt. I gave her a beyond confused and perturbed facial expression.

"Cindy, wha.." "Look dweebtron, I just want to get my phone, leave, and call it a night." She interrupts and walks toward where she left her cell phone, continuing to try and ignore me.

Look, as an intellectual genius, it is barbaric and highly illogical to lose your temper over something like this. But she is being a contradiction right now.

Cindy wants to act illogically with me… very well then Cindy, you've asked for it.

"Look Cindy, what's wrong with you? What did I do to..." I was interrupted when she turned around as she was walking with an intense glare in her eyes. "Nothing's wrong, just leave me alone, okay?!" She snaps at me and was about to turn back around as she was walking.

My eyebrows were furrowed in frustration and I was about to lay it on her… until my eyes widened and my expression turned to panicked and it was almost as if space and time were unrealistically going into slow motion as I watched her current charted course and where she was headed.

She was heading in the direction of a loose extension cord wire laying on the floor and if she were to trip the trajectory of her fall would cause her to land on and encounter my unstable isotope experiments.

"Cindy! Stop!" I shouted in warning, trying to stop her. "What is it Neu… Ah." She stopped when her left foot caught the wire.

Look, am I beyond irked and frustrated with her right now about her shortness with me for no apparent reason as of late… yes. But those isotopes are totally not stable at all and I'd rather not find out what happens when a human comes into contact with them, even Cindy.

I strode forward and was able to catch her arm and yanked her toward me to shift the momentum of her fall.

But then something happened next that I both did and did not anticipate. I did anticipate keeping her from falling into my chemical beakers, that was a given. But what I didn't expect was her momentum now taking over me as an equal and opposite reaction as I started to lose my balance and she was unintentionally trying to drag me.

She was acting on a natural human response as she kept on using more force to try and attempt to stabilize herself, but instead ended up dragging me down with her. I tried to contort my fall so I could cushion myself by landing on my back and that did end up working, but nothing could've prepared me for what happened next.

Apparently as I changed my position to fall on my back, Cindy ended up following me and she was literally going to fall on me as I braced myself. I closed my eyes as I prepared for the inevitable when… my eyes sprung open at what really ended up happening.

Our eyes were making direct contact and both of us seemed to have similar reactions to what was currently happening at the moment with us.

When Cindy fell on me, that wasn't all that ended up coming in contact. Well, mainly the fact right now that upon our impact… so did our lips.

I didn't know exactly how to respond right now, and I don't think Cindy knew what to do exactly either as we were both tensed up into a state of minor shock to the current situation.

My heart rate was steadily increasing, my forehead and palms felt the slight onset of perspiration, and my mind was in an intense state of indecisive confusion.

Then I was pushed into another state of confusion as I kept looking at Cindy, both of us still not making any attempt to separate.

I kept looking at her but then I noticed her eyes shutting slowly and I thought I felt her pressing her lips more into mine and it made my eyes widen even more initially as she slowly started to move her lips a little more over mine.

My brain was still trying to come up with something... anything; a thought, a response. I was just still trying to mentally process what was currently happening.

But this was a different kind of confusion for me. This took me back to when we were 11 and I inhaled that pheromone that caused me to fall in love with her that one Valentine's Day.

The feeling felt similar but also... _different_.

Okay, as confused as I am right now as a scientist, the 17 year old teenager side of me… actually _really_ liked it. I slowly closed my eyes too as I started reciprocating her advance as I took in this whole new set of sensations.

I was trying to take in air during the slight separations while we were kissing to breathe.

Her hands started to wander up from my shoulders to the back of my head and I let out a slight involuntary groan in response when I felt her fingers brush over the hair on the back of my head, trying to make the proximity closer between us.

I started to test myself too when I put my right hand on the side of her face as we continued in our… _session_ of sorts.

I didn't want this to end and I wasn't about to let what was currently happening stop.

I was about to wrap my arms around her back to keep her close to me until she forced us, well me, into a semi recumbent posture and her sitting between my legs as we continued.

I slowly wrapped my left arm around her back to pull her closer to me and I heard a sigh come from her as her arms wrapped around my neck. Both of us still not breaking away from each other.

I've never been in a situation prior to this, well I've never really, actually kissed a girl in this sort of way before now and I wasn't about to let this end. I gained more confidence as I let my right hand slowly wander from her face to the back of her head to maintain the close and slightly intimate proximity between us.

We kept going about this current situation and I was contemplating my next move as I felt her hair tie beneath my finger tips, but then she stopped and pulled away from me abruptly.

Both of our breathing was picked up way beyond normal tidal volume. Cindy was looking at me with wide eyes and her face was reddening steadily.

I tilted my head at her, trying to figure out what was going on, but she just kept her eyes locked on me. I tried to slowly lean in to try and kiss her again, when she immediately scrambled away from me.

I remained sitting on the floor as I watched her run and grab her messenger bag, not even looking back in my direction, as she continued to sprint toward my lab entrance door.

Finally, I felt the synapse from my brain finally travel to my correct nerve endings as I finally got up and yelled, "Wait! Cindy, where are you going?!"

I ran after her, but by the time I reached the threshold of my lab... she was gone.

I just stood there in a state of total confusion, before I whipped my head around when I heard something come from inside my lab.

I looked around until I noticed a device vibrating and sitting on one of the counters in my lab. I walked over and picked it up as I glanced at the screen and saw there was a new message from Libby.

It was Cindy's phone.

I studied it for a moment before looking back at my lab door, still in a total state of confusion about what just happened.

**(Cindy's POV)**

I ran into my house, sprinted to my room, and slammed my door shut behind me.

My back was leaning against my door as I slowly slide down to the floor, now sitting and pulling my knees close to my chest. I was trying to calm myself down and I'm pretty sure I was really close to rocking in a fetal position on my bedroom floor.

My eyes went wide as I started to pat my pockets frantically and say in realization, "No."

I couldn't find it.

"No, no, no…" I kept saying as I started to practically gut out my messenger bag.

Well, I forgot my phone, but to heck with that.

 _What did I do? Why did I do that?! Did I seriously just do what I just did?! UGH! Did I actually just… make out with… Jimmy?_ I felt my fingers go to my lips for a moment as that thought lingered.

I shook my head and put my hand down to get a hold of myself.

Ugh, why did I do that?

If anyone finds out about this, I swear I will never _ever_ hear the end of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, looks like Jimmy and Cindy are really in a pickle now. I hope you guys liked Jimmy's analytical, scientific thought process of what he thought when he and Cindy were kissing. Why did Cindy run away exactly? Find out next time! Thanks for reading and please review, your feedback and thoughts are always appreciated.


	8. Apish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! Hope you are enjoying the story so far! :)

**(Libby's POV)**

I just got to school and I opened up my locker and was about to say something to Cindy when, "See ya Libs." Then she just walked off.

I gave her a slightly weirded out look. I kept looking at her trying to figure out what was up with her. I don't know, Cindy just seems kind of… _off_. Especially since she never even replied to my txt from last night, which is so unlike Cindy.

Cindy _always_ gets back to me within at the very most an hour. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. I guess I'll ask her what's been up later.

I looked back at my locker and started to get my history book and sheet music for my next two classes.

Ever since middle school I've been in the school performance band and they let me either play my bass guitar or sometimes my keyboard, which I was so happy I didn't have to be forced into playing some brass or wind instrument that I _really_ wouldn't be into.

Then I got to high school and the band director, Mr. Solway, asked me if I was interested in joining marching band since he knew that I could also play the drums… yeah, there was no way.

One, I wasn't interested and two, you wouldn't have caught me dead or alive in those wool disasters they call uniforms. No offense to any of my friends in marching band that wear them, but those things are ugly as all get out.

But I did take Mr. Solways suggestion and joined the pep band. It's pretty cool, I get to play my bass in the bleachers with rest of the band section at the basketball games during the winter.

However, today's practice is important for band… at least for me and a couple other people.

The Retroville High School Fall Fine Arts Variety Show is tonight and I just need to go over my piece for my keyboard solo one more time before the show, but I pretty much have it down.

What can I say? Music is still in my top three favorite things, but… these days I'm more into fashion and fashion design.

A couple years back I would've said that my all time dream job would have been a musician, but to be honest music is more of just a hobby for me now and I still love to have it in my spare time, either playing it myself or just listening to it.

But I _definitely_ want to be in fashion design once I go to and graduate from college.

Whenever I have time, I love to take out my free draw sketch pad from art class that my art teacher, Miss Hoy, gave me and the rest of my class to draw whatever we want for practice outside of class.

It's seriously my passion and all time dream.

With me, I love to use it as my medium for my clothing design sketches. Miss Hoy even tells me my sketches are very creative and well done. Also, now that I've _finally_ got to year two of Home Ec, I've been getting some practice and learning how to sew.

Seriously the only thing I want my parents to get me for Christmas is my own sewing machine, then maybe I can finally get started on actually making some of the designs I have stored away. One of them being my dream Prom dress that I designed and want to make for Prom this year or next.

Well, either way, I will always have fashion, music, and dancing in my life. As I thought more about it, something else hit me when I thought more into it, again making me think back to my crush on Sheen.

Even before I really started to actually like boys, I always imagined my ideal boyfriend as a guy with great style, a great voice, and good on his feet… and Sheen can literally do none of those things.

First, it's not that Sheen's fashion sense is _horrible_ … but, he still wears Ultralord shirts pretty much everyday... 'nough said.

And then his voice is… okay I'm just going to say that I would pay him any and I mean _any_ amount of money to keep him from singing.

Then to top it off, Sheen can't dance to save his life.

Wow, whoever said opposites attract really wasn't messing around.

Anyway, the only two things of any kind of dancing he can actually do are _the crazy porpoise_ and _reeling in the fishing line_ , one that he usually talks me into to doing with him at dances.

That's a whole other thing too, Sheen at school dances.

But, I'm _definitely_ sure I'll get my _dose_ of that at Homecoming next month, something I'm hoping he'll ask me out to, and just in case that boy still doesn't get the picture to ask me out, I'll ask just ask him to go to the girls ask guys winter formal dance with me.

I'm really psyched about that one, because now that we're juniors we can finally go to prom, even if Sheen tried to get all of us to crash it last year but that plan didn't ever happen.

Well, whether Sheen and I are actually _dates_ or not for Homecoming, I'm still in for the _full experience_ of dancing with Sheen at a school dance again this year.

**(Cindy's POV)**

I was trying to keep my mind on something else.

Ugh, but all day I've been almost on the verge of going insane, but I've managed to hold it together even with… Jimmy being in almost all my classes.

I don't know what to do. I'm literally… oh, well, this is craptastic... but I knew it was coming for this class since he's my lab partner.

I bit my lip as I pretended to read through my notes as Neutron walked into the classroom. He pulled his, and the only, chair that was next to mine at our lab table out and sat down.

I could literally hear and feel my heartbeat in my ears and I just had that sneaking feeling that he kept… Ugh, he does keep looking at me, he's been doing that off and on all freaking day!

He kept pulling his stuff out of his backpack and setting everything out in the way he usually would for class. I kept fully trying to ignore him as much as possible, and also trying to maintain a composed expression so everyone else, especially Jimmy, couldn't notice how much I want to crawl out of my skin right now.

 _C'mon Cindy, focus! Just pretend he isn't even there. Just ignore him, just_ … I stopped when I saw his hand pushing something at me.

It was my phone that I forgot in his lab.

I stared at it wide eyed.

**(Jimmy's POV)**

I was waiting for some kind of reaction from her.

Today has been possibly the weirdest day of school in my entire life.

Cindy hasn't said one word to me or even acknowledged my existence all day, which has never happened ever and is so NOT like her. This has never happened at school ever and it was kind of secretly freaking me out slightly.

I kept looking at her and slowly pushing her phone in her direction on the table top. She wasn't making any attempt to reach for it.

I didn't really know what to do now. Should I try to talk to her? I cleared my throat a little.

"You uh, left this in my lab and I wanted to give it back. I also noticed one of your phone applications was faulty so I corrected it. It should be running at an optimal level now." I explain, waiting for her to respond as I slowly retracted my hand.

The only thing I saw her do was give a sharp nod, probably in a response to what I just said, but still not looking at me as she slowly reached out to grab her phone and put it away.

Look, I really don't want to make a scene at all and talk about this in a public place probably like she doesn't, but would it kill her to just look at me and not treat me like I'm Medusa and she'll turn to stone if she even makes the slightest glance in my direction?

I didn't have anymore time to contemplate this because the bell rang to start class.

* * *

Class just let out and Cindy left as casually as she usually would, but she still wasn't acknowledging me.

If she seriously expects me to just let this slide, she's got another thing coming. How could I let what happened between us last night go without discussion?

After that _thing_ we had in my lab and her just leaving like that with no explanation, I was NOT going to just ignore it. I decided to stop off at my locker first like usual and put my books away before I left.

I put on the straps of my backpack over my shoulders as I walked out of the main entrance doors.

I was about to wait for Carl and Sheen… but then I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

I glanced to my right and I almost felt an immediate synapse go right to my legs moving when I noticed Cindy walking away from the high school grounds.

I started to follow her to see if I was able to catch up with her. My current course of action was trying to go at a safe pace so I didn't look like I was trying to completely track her down.

I was slowly getting closer to her, but then I froze for a split second when she glanced back at me.

Her eyes widened as she froze for a moment, both of us just staring at each other in a slight standoff.

I made a move to step forward when she immediately started walking again, and I just started to follow her again to see if I could talk to her.

I followed her until we were off school property and it seemed to be just the two of us in the immediate area.

I was about to jog up to her to try and get her to talk to me... but then she just started running, almost sprinting, away from me.

"Hey! Wait!" I call out as I started running after her.

I was trying not to lose track of her, but it was difficult because Cindy is fast. Cindy's always been faster and way more athletically inclined than I am. Which is really frustrating me since she's almost easily evading trying to talk to me right now.

She turned the corner on Maple Street, but by the time I rounded the corner and got there… Cindy was gone.

I stood there for a second before my eyebrows furrowed together slightly and I grit my teeth in slight frustration.

_Seriously? What is wrong with her?! Why does she keep avoiding me like this?!_

**(Cindy's POV)**

I jumped over the fence and hopped into my backyard. I was slightly hunched over with my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. I had to cut through about 4 yards to lose him.

I walked into my house and got a Purple Flurp out of the fridge.

My parents were still at work so it was still just me at home. I just decided to go up to my room.

I opened my door before closing it behind me as I almost immediately threw myself on my bed and put one of my pillows over my face, slowly letting out a frustrated groan.

Ugh, why did I have to do that last night? What is wrong with me?! I practically just threw myself at him and… ugh, it's just so complicated. As much as I think I'm a total idiot for what I did last night right now, I also couldn't deny how much I seriously wanted to do that.

Look, it's obvious to anyone alive that Jimmy and I's _rapport_ was never the _simplest_ thing ever. But… to be totally honest, I was the one who started the rivalry between us when we were kids.

Ever since we were in school together starting in kindergarten, he just kept beating me at everything in the classroom: spelling tests, multiplication tables… you name it. I was and still am a beyond competitive person and I just couldn't stand the fact that Neutron was better than me in school.

You have no idea how frustrating it is when you're like me and you work your butt off to get your perfect grades and then you see someone else achieve those same grades if not better without almost ever breaking a sweat.

That was why I always acted very _harsh_ toward Jimmy. I'll admit it, I was jealous of him… I'm still kind of jealous of him to be honest.

But, as time went on and I actually saw what Jimmy was really like when we were in 4th and 5th grade together and he started to include Libby and I on his insane adventures, sure he can still be a show off sometimes… but, I started to see what he was really like as a person.

Jimmy was, and still is, actually a really great guy. He's nice, he's brave, he's resourceful, he's driven, he's intelligent, he's compassionate, and he's… okay, I've learned to be able to admit this to myself but I refuse to still admit it to anyone else.

I'm attracted to Jimmy Neutron, there I said it!

I mean, I've had a crush on him since elementary school, but it has only gotten stronger over the years. I really, _really_ like Jimmy. But it isn't that entirely simple or just based on one specific thing. My attraction to him is mental as well as… well, a physical attraction.

In the past two years I've watched Jimmy go from being that same boy I've crushed on for years to become this tall, mature, and... _gook-looking_ guy.

I just remember the start of this year when he walked into our first period history class and I saw that he changed something. Jimmy literally had that same _cowlick hair-do_ since we were in elementary school, and I was shocked to see he no longer had it when he walked into the classroom.

His hair was still the same but he just slicked the cowlick down and it almost gives me a _pompadour-type_ vibe. I mean, not that I'm complaining, like at all. I'll admit that his new look _really_ suits him, kind of adding more to his mature-ish vibe he has now.

But apart from that, especially from his gesture earlier of bringing back and even fixing an app on my phone, still shows that Jimmy's remained that same nice guy.

To be honest, that's been part of the reason why I've been a little _shorter_ with him than usual lately.

It's just like some kind of knee-jerk reaction for me, a force of habit.

It's just been getting really, really difficult for me to deny how I really feel about Jimmy and I just kept fighting it… until last night. And I completely lost all control of it last night. I still feel totally pathetic when I practically just threw myself at and made out with him in his lab.

UGH, but why did it have to feel so _nice?_ And just so… _right_. And he was actually kissing me back! I shook my head to get a grip over myself.

Look, I just can't do it. I just can't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… looks like Cindy is at least admitting it to herself that she's attracted to Jimmy, still. (; Thank you all so much for reading and please leave a review if you can. I'd love to hear your input. Have a lovely day!
> 
> -Dexter1995


	9. Dilemmas

**(Sheen's POV)**

_Come on, you got this Sheenster. Just walk up to her and ask her. You're macho, you're cool... dang it, you're the man!_

Even though it's like a month from now like my other… _plan_ , I really want ask Libby if she'll go with me to homecoming. Not as a friend like some namby-pamby wuss, like as my actual date.

I've wussed out for too long. I'm just going to walk right up to her like a man and just straight out ask her. I've wanted to ask her out for real for years and now dang it, I'm gonna do it.

When we were at Retro-Land, Libby and I were actually holding hands... oh yeah, she has to want to go out with me.

School was over and I was just watching her look through her locker. She had her earbuds in and she had that cute smile on her face as she was nodding her head to the music she was listening to.

Then she reached up and she brushed her back hair over one of her cute ears on… wait, what am I doing again? Oh right!

C'mon Sheen, you got this. Time to finally prove it! She's had you completely whipped since 5th grade, she's also the coolest girl you've ever met, and you even bought that stupid boy band CD for her that she wouldn't shut up about.

Sure buying it made me feel like I was crushing every part of my manhood… but I don't even care!

She's so worth it.

Especially when she thanked me for it and she was hugging me for almost a full minute and she kissed me on the cheek!

It felt so nice and… Dang! I really am whipped… eh, don't care!

I shook my head and took a deep breath to focus. Okay Sheen, you got this. I started to make my way over to her. I'm gonna do it!

I'm gonna ask her!

**(Libby's POV)**

I was listening to the new single Graystar released last night.

It came out right at midnight and I bought it right away and it was so worth staying up until midnight on a school night. This track is seriously awesome!

I was about to leave when I saw someone lean next to my locker and I heard, "Hey Libby, can I ask you something?" I smiled as I turned and said, "Yeah Sheen, what's up?" He was grinning at me in a flirting way as he opened his mouth to talk…. I waited… and waited… still waiting.

Sheen was just standing there his mouth just hanging open a little and he was just looking at me.

"Uh… Sheen? Are you okay?" I ask, slightly freaked out and also feeling a little worried about him.

Then he just started stuttering, "I… I, uh… I just wanted to ask… do you want some gum?" He blurted out as he spastically pulled it out of his pocket and was holding it out to me.

I was giving him a weirded out look before I evened out and said, "Sure, Sheen... thanks."

I took the gum from him and I saw his hand slowly go back down. _Okay… am I missing something or…_ "Cool, see ya tomorrow." He said quickly and then just walked away. I turned around and watched him until he was gone.

I just stood there with my mouth open slightly trying to straighten out everything that just happened.

"What?" I said to myself, still totally confused about… whatever that was that just happened.

I mean sure, Sheen's always been pretty _weird_ , but that was way beyond usual Sheen weirdness.

**({No POV})**

Sheen was walking out into the school parking lot until he got to his van from work. He walked to the driver's side of the van and put his hand on the door handle, but then he just froze there.

He was standing in that one place for about a minute before he just started flipping out.

He kept freaking out and kicking the tires on his van before pacing around kicking the pavement as he yelled in frustration, "Do you want some gum? DO YOU WANT SOME GUM?! Are you freaking kidding me?! Why did I say that?! Why do I always do that?! Why can I never ask her out?! What is wrong with me?!"

Then he stopped and gripped his hands into his hair with an angry and frustrated expression of face as he grunted and looked around in random directions before going up to the side of his van.

Then he just started to hit his head against the side of the van repeatedly and started yelling at himself as he proceeded hitting his head against the side of the van, "You stupid, stupid, stupid…"

Sheen looked to the side at this group of Freshman standing there and giving him weird looks.

Sheen's expression suddenly became defensive, maybe even manic, as he pointed and yelled at them, "HEY, what are you staring at?! Got a problem with me?! You wanna go?! You want a face full of Sheen?!"

All of them had totally weirded and freaked out looks on their faces as they backed away from Sheen before finally just running to get away from him, thinking Sheen was totally insane.

"Yeah, that's right! You better run!" Sheen yells at them manically and completely defensive.

**_Later that day_ **

The Neutrons were sitting down to dinner. Hugh and Judy Neutron were chatting as usual across the table with Jimmy sitting between them in his place at the table like he always has.

However, unlike usual, Jimmy wasn't talking or even eating. He was propping up his head with his left arm that was resting on the table. All the while he was looking at his food indifferently as he kept pushing it around his plate absentmindedly, his face facial expression looked like a combination of pensiveness, slight boredom, and with a hint of annoyance.

Jimmy had a thousand thoughts racing around his head and fully occupying his mind, but all those thoughts were centered around his current _dilemma_.

He was so deep in thought that he looked slightly startled when he heard, "Hey Jim-jam, you okay, sport?"

Jimmy tried to look slightly more homeostatic to his usual self as responded to his father, "Yeah dad, I'm fine."

"Jimmy, honey, are you sure? You've barely touched your food. Are you feeling okay? Are you running a fever?" His mom inquires, looking concerned as she got up and put her hand over Jimmy's forehead to see if he might be sick.

Jimmy gently took her hand off his forehead as he assured, "No mom, I'm not sick. I'm just not very hungry, I guess… Can I be excused?" "Yeah sure Jimbo, you go ahead son." Hugh responds.

Jimmy nodded and proceeded to walk out of the room, looking to be in an obvious state of confused and deep thought, as his parents watched him walk out.

Judy hesitantly sat back down as her husband just went back to eating, looking like he completely forgot about the recent encounter already as he said, "Can you please pass the salt, Sugar Booger?"

"Hugh? Do you think Jimmy's alright? He's been acting very… _off_ lately." Judy says, looking back to the archway where Jimmy left moments ago, looking concerned.

"What makes you say that?" Hugh responds, seeming like he had no idea what his wife was saying.

"He's barely touched his food, he's been spending way more time in his lab and his room, and he's hardly been socializing with his friends outside of school in a couple days. I'm really worried about him." Judy explains, still looking concerned for their son.

"Oh honey, he's a teenager. He's probably just going through a phase. Why, when I was his age, I went through my fair share of phases. I remember when in my junior year, I tried wearing my underwear on the outside of pants to set a new trend… sure, I got laughed at and shoved into my locker by the football team for it… But, I got over it!" Hugh explains, smiling at the memory.

His wife gave him a weird look before she recollected herself and responded, "But Hugh, I don't think this is some... _phase_. Jimmy has never acted like this until 3 days ago. What could possibly be causing him to stop acting like his usual self? Do you remember ever acting like this when you were his age?"

"Well… not that I can remember." Hugh says after trying to think about it for a moment.

"Honey, we should really talk to him, right now." Judy says adamantly.

"Aw, but Butter Biscuit, I brought a banana creme pie home that I've been waiting for all day." Hugh complains slightly. "Hugh Neutron, dessert can wait, Jimmy looks like he really needs help or something. We have to talk to him." Judy says firmly.

Hugh sighed as he got up. "You're right, I'll handle this." Hugh says, getting a confident look to him. "But Hugh, shouldn't we both talk to him together?" Judy asks.

"Now honey, I can handle it. Besides, I think I should just talk to Jimmy alone… you know, guy... talking… errr, stuff. I'll be back!" Hugh says with a smile and he walked out of the kitchen.

Outside the room a commotion was heard as well as a slight yelp as something hit the floor, Hugh. "Just tripped, I'm okay!" Hugh calls out.

Judy was standing in the dining room with her arms crossed, shaking her head, and letting out a slight sigh.

**(Jimmy's POV)**

After I left the table, I just had to do something to put my mind on something else.

I didn't really know exactly what to do so I just went up to my room and started tinkering with something on my desk, but I was barely even paying attention to it. I was just fiddling around with some wires.

I put down the pliers in my hand as I looked up and out my window, my eyes locked at the one and only house that was directly across the street, the Vortex's house.

I sighed to myself in frustration.

It's been 3 days since Cindy started avoiding me and… she was _still_ avoiding me and _still_ hasn't said anything to me since that night she ran away from me after we… _osculated_ , or kissed to put it in simpler terms, in my lab.

I was still in deep thought as I looked up more when I saw movement on the second floor of Cindy's house.

I looked up and my eyes locked when I saw Cindy at her window, looking like she was about to open it when she looked up slightly.

She was looking at me from her window and I was about to do something to get a long distance response from her, then her eyes widened as her expression went blank. I was about to stand up from my desk chair when she suddenly pulled the blinds down on her window… yet again, still trying to avoid me.

I just don't get it.

_What's making her act like this? I mean, not that I'm confused about what happened either, but at least I'm not treating her like she doesn't exist. She was the one who started kissing me! Why would…_

I whipped my head around when I heard knocking. "Hey Jimbo." My dad said as he walked into my room.

"Your mother seems to think that maybe something's…" "Dad, look I really appreciate and can see that your motive is to help me, but I don't really need any help right now." I express honestly.

I mainly said that, not just because talking about this sort of situation with my dad would be beyond awkward, but also because I really have no idea what the exact problem Cindy and I have between us was after that one night.

"Oh see, I knew there was nothing wrong, your mother worries too much. Hey, wanna come down stairs for some dessert? I brought home a banana creme pie that's been calling my name all evening." My dad offers.

I smiled a little as I shook my head. "No dad, I'm not hungry… thanks though." I say. "Whatever you say, son." My dad says before walking out of my room.

I was back to sitting in the silence of my room. My back hunched over slightly, my elbows resting my knees, and then clasping my hands together as I started thinking again.

_Okay, out of every other time in my entire life so far, I have seriously never been this confused… ever. Ugh, it's just so…_

"Jimmy?"

I whipped my head up and internally felt a little more frustrated when I now saw my mom in the doorway. I sighed before saying, "Look mom, I just told dad that…" "Jimmy, I heard what you said to your father, but unlike your father I don't believe you. I've never seen you act like this. Jimmy, sweetie, I wish you would tell us what's wrong." She says, using that comforting and maternal tone to her voice and she put her hand on my shoulder.

I looked up and forced a smile.

"I know, mom. I appreciate what you're trying to do. But, I just don't even know exactly what my problem is right now and until I figure it out, I just don't know what help to ask for until I pinpoint my problem." I vaguely explain.

But I wasn't lying either technically. Like I said previously, the truth was I still seriously had no idea what my actual problem was between me and Cindy.

I noticed my mom sitting down on the edge of my bed, looking at me.

"Jimmy, ever since you were born, your father and I could tell you were going to be a very unique person. You've always been a very intelligent boy and you still don't cease to show what your ability is limited to. I know it looked like your father and I were angry at you at times when you were little for your inventions, but people usually don't prepare for a child genius as one of their own children. But I hope you know that your father and I have always loved you so much and have always been proud of everything you've done. I know you're seventeen now and you'll probably feel less inclined to ask your father and I for help. Trust me, I was your age once too… so I know, but you know that we will always be here to help you whenever you need it, right?" She says rubbing her hand on my shoulder.

I smiled a little at her and replied, "Yeah, mom, I know. But, I don't think this is a problem I really want or need to publicize."

It was quiet for a couple seconds before my mom looked at me again and said, "Well, you don't need to talk about it if you don't want to, but just listen to one thing… Jimmy, you've accomplished so many incredible things and you have always been an extremely clever young man and you can do almost anything you put your mind to."

Then my mom got up and I felt her give me a kiss on the forehead before she walked out of the room.

I kept sitting there, my mind still processing everything, until I felt Goddard nudge my hand. I smiled as I pat him on the head, but my mind was still in a clouded mass of thoughts.

At this point in time, I still had no idea what to do.

**_Later that Night_ **

I decided to just check up on some things in my lab before I went to bed. Also, I figured maybe a little more time in the lab would help me recollect my thoughts.

I was typing in my control chair in front of the main screen just to make sure all my current experiments were on the up and up for tonight. I just kept going down the list from top to bottom until I finally got to the last item.

"Vox, gene stabilization project status?" I ask out loud. "Status of gene stabilization project is… stabilized." Vox responds. "Thank you, Vox." I reply as I log out of my current program and shut down my computer for tonight. "You're welcome." Vox responds.

I swiveled my chair around like I usually did when I get up to leave the lab, but I didn't. My mind felt too occupied and almost annoyed.

As a scientist, the code is that for everything you encounter that confuses you is to use the scientific method. Form hypotheses, questions, and procedures until you get the desired result. But… I was at a loss.

This wasn't a conventional problem between Cindy and I and the more I analyze the situation the more frustrated I get to want an answer from her.

We fell, our lips touched totally by accident, but instead of her just initially pulling away from me like I thought she would have done… she just started kissing me and it became a very… _mutual_ situation between the two of us.

Okay Jimmy, you just need to relax. Just calm down, close your eyes, and just think.

"Think…Think… Think…" I say to myself as I start to explore the deepest recesses of my mind for a solution. I kept thinking until my mind pulled up what my mom said to me earlier, " _You can do almost anything you put your mind to_."

I thought a little longer until… my eyes immediately shot open to as I smiled slightly and said to myself, "Brain blast."

I shot out of my chair as I started collecting things from around my lab.

"That's it! I've been thinking from the same angle the whole time. Cindy won't allow me to come to her for an explanation… so, I'll just have to do the reciprocal action and have her come to me with one. Like Einstein said, ' _Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them_.' All I need to do is think on a different wavelength and I think I know just how to do it." I say with a slight smile at my possible plan.

I proceeded to assemble some components on one of my lab tables and got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Sheen, he still can't figure out why he seems incapable of asking out Libby when it used to be way easier for him to flirt with her and ask her out, even if she did constantly reject him, back when before they were even friends. Also, looks like Jimmy finally had a Brain blast! Couldn't help it, gotta love the nostalgia. lol. But, what exactly is Jimmy's idea? All the answers and more next time! Please don't be shy to leave a review. I'd be very happy and appreciative to hear what you all think. Have a good one!
> 
> -Dexter1995


	10. Arrangements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Fair warning, this is a long one. But I wanted to give you all a nice long chapter to read. Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to repond to a review from "Matheus" by saying that I am so glad you are enjoying the story thus far and I hope to you continue to enjoy reading. Well, the last place we left off, both Sheen and Jimmy were caught in their respective conundrums. Let's see where they end up this time.

**(Sheen's POV)**

What is wrong with me?! Why can't I just ask her out?!

MAN, I'm pathetic!

Last week at school I failed so bad asking Libby to go to homecoming with me and I totally wussed out of asking her the last three times I went over to her house to do homework together.

It's like everytime I tried to ask her and looked at her… I choked and kept WUSSIN' OUT! WHY?!

I asked her out so easily that one Valentine's Day. So why can't I ask her now?! C'mon Sheen, man up! Man up… ugh, who am I kidding right now? I'm such a wuss.

Wait… why am I sitting around complaining? My best friend's a genius! Jimmy's like a brother to me and we've been best friends since we were toddlers. He's gotta have something to help me out.

"I gotta find Jimmy." I say to myself before jumping off my bed and running to Jimmy's house.

**(Jimmy's POV)**

I was jotting down on my blueprint before looking at it aggravated as I said in frustration, "No, no, no…" I crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it by my recycle container which was already overflowing with my previous stupid and failed ideas.

I've been at this for two days and I just can't think of a concrete idea to get Cindy to confront me and talk to me about what happened between us.

As of now I am frustrated and running on nothing but soda, energy drinks, and a collective total of 5 hours nights sleep over the duration of two days. But, I can't stop thinking because I won't be able to sleep or do anything else until I can solve my current conundrum to get Cindy to stop avoiding me in every possible way and provide me with an explanation.

Just gotta stay focused, can't have any distractions.

**(Sheen's POV)**

I finally got to Jimmy's backyard after sprinting for like 15 blocks. I could barely breathe and I felt like I was going to cough up one of my lungs.

Man, maybe I do need to pay more attention in gym class… nah, Coach Trip can get bent for all those stupid ladder runs he makes us do in class. No way am I ever doing any sports and be coached by that doofus.

Wait, Jimmy, gotta see Jimmy. I gotta get Jimmy!

I ran up to his lab door and starting banging on the clubhouse door while yelling, "JIMMY! It's Sheen! Let me in! Let me... AH!" I yell as I feel down the trapdoor.

Then I feel flat on my back on the cement floor… hurts every time. "Dang, Jimmy you really need to put a mattress or some pillows there or something." I complain as I get off the floor and look toward Jimmy.

He had a bunch of empty Flurp cans everywhere and he was doing something at one of his lab tables. They were Purple Flurp and Flurp Boost cans. Flurp Boost is pretty much a crazy energy drink made by the same makers of Purple Flurp, it's actually not too bad of stuff.

Even though both the guy at the local gas station and the supermarket have banned me from buying them because I drank like 10 cans of it one time and the caffeine and sugar made me start acting pretty _crazy_ … let's just say it ended with me passing out and then waking up with some weird paramedic guy trying to give me mouth to mouth resuscitation.

I picked up a can and said, "Geez Jimmy, what's with all the cans? If you needed cans you can just ask Max, he usually passes out with his shopping cart full of cans outside my dad's office at 4:30."

"Huh? Oh hey Sheen, I'm kind of busy here." He says. "Why? What are you doing that's…" "Sheen, no! Don't touch that!" He said and pushed me away from this thing that looked like some futuristic, ugly throw rug from my grandma's house with two weird looking lamp things above it.

I put up my hands and said, "Whoa, fine, geez Jimmy. It just looks like some stupid, ugly looking rug to me."

Jimmy gave me a look and said, "Hardly, this is an atomizing particle transporter pad. It's highly complicated and hardly a throw rug."

"What the heck is that? Doesn't look like it can do jack squat to me." I say.

"Hey, this is a highly complex piece of machinery. You see Sheen this could be the way of the future in terms of travel, mail, and shipping. Instead of wasting copious amounts of money using fossil fuels to power cars, boats, and planes that take days in terms of travel/transport; this device can allow for any item to be transported from anywhere to anywhere in mere seconds. It's revolutionary. Imagine receiving packages right when you buy them from online or maybe even possibly transporting yourself or any person to a place you or they wanted to travel… wait… that's it! Thanks Sheen." Jimmy said with a huge smile on his face and pat me on the back as he walked toward that… whatever it is.

I looked up and saw the tube as I remembered why I came here.

"No, wait Jimmy! I need your HELP!" I yelled as I shot out of the lab and landed on my back in Jimmy's backyard. I looked around before pounding my fist against the ground and yelling, "Dang it!"

I ran all the way here to get Jimmy's help so could give me some crazy whatever if he had it to help me ask out Libby… and I completely forgot!

Well Sheen, nothing left to say but… I'm completely toast now. Now how am I going to ask her out?!

**_2 hours later_ **

I have literally been staring at my phone for 2 hours… AND I STILL HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING?!

I thought that if I can't ask Libby to go to homecoming with me to her face, I wanted to try calling her, not txting her. Txting to ask someone out is the lowest way to ask a girl out ever and there is no way I'm stooping that low… but I still can't do it!

I can't even call her?! Why am I acting like such a sap?! I've wanted to ask her out forever and now she seems like she actually likes me like that back now or something… SO WHY CAN'T ASK HER OUT NOW, DANG IT?!

"Sheen?" "AH!" I yell and fall off the couch freaked out, but it was only my dad. "Oh sorry son, I didn't mean to scare you." My dad says and walks in.

"Pfft, I'm not scared." I say, brushing it off. "Whatever you say, son. What was going on? You seemed pretty… _focused_ before." My dad points out as he sat next to me on the couch.

I sighed and looked back at my phone and said, "Eh, it's nothing."

It was really, really awkwardly quiet until I heard my dad start talking, "Does Libby have anything to do with this?" I whipped my head over to look over at him with my eyes almost shooting out of my head.

How did he know this stuff?!

"What? No, it's not…" "Sheen, there's nothing wrong with feeling nervous around a girl you like." He says interrupting me.

I stood up and was about to walk out of the room to avoid talking about girls with my dad as I said, "Uh… Oh wow, dad, look at the time…" "Sit." My dad says and I sat back down, feeling really, really uncomfortable.

Man, this is so awkward.

"Sheen, don't look so surprised about this. I've known you liked her since you both were still kids. But there's nothing wrong with admitting you like her." "But how do you know? I never said I liked her or anything." I say back.

He gave me a look before saying, "Sheen, you're 18… you aren't exactly hard to figure out. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with admitting you like her that way. Libby's a nice girl and… I may be wrong, but I think she likes you too."

Okay, I seriously do not want to talk to my dad right now about Libby. Its just so AWKWARD!

Then again… maybe I just need to suck it up. Besides, my dad's a cool guy and maybe he can help me out. As much as I wanted no help with this… I've choked too many times with Libby that it's completely pathetic.

So I might as well stoop to the level of talking to my dad about it… Nothing left to lose, now that I've lost all dignity.

"Well… alright, yeah, I really like her and I really want to ask her to go with me to homecoming, but everytime I try to ask her I completely wimp out of it like some incompetent idiot... and I don't know why?!" I say, still feeling like I was going insane and gripping my hands in my hair.

I looked up when I felt my dad put his hand on my back.

I saw him smiling at me and he said, "Sheen, you aren't the first boy to get nervous about asking out a girl, I know I did when I was your age. But, asking a girl out isn't really that... difícil. Although asking someone out is a pretty big thing for someone your age, but you can't over think it son. The worst thing she can say is 'no' and you both just stay friends, but if you ask me, I don't think she will. You've been friends for several years now and I think if you even asked her to something that wasn't the dance, I'm sure she'd like to do something with you. But, you'll never know until you try."

I smiled back at my dad, knowing he was just helping me out, even though I didn't know exactly what he meant by all that stuff right now. But he did try to help me out.

"Thanks dad." I say. He pat me on the back and said, "De nada, son."

We both smiled at each other a little, but then my dad left because he got a call had to go out to fix something.

But still, what am I gonna do now? Do I just twidle my thumbs until… Wait.

I looked at the coffee table and saw the newspaper. I hate reading and my dad's the only one who reads it, but I saw listings on the back for the movie theater tomorrow.

**(Jimmy's POV)**

Of course! Why didn't I think of this plan sooner?

All this time I was trying to come up with something completely new when I had something that looked promising the entire time in my lab. Cindy left to go train at her dojo and it gave me enough time to use one of my drones so I could fixate the final needed item on her window.

Okay, just need to calibrate it so it's at the appropriate trajectory and… I smiled to myself when I had it fixated on the front door of her room.

Okay, I know this is pretty much going against a possible invasion of privacy and could count for something else that would be considered unconventional and possibly illegal, but I gave Cindy so many chances to have an out to confront me in a mature and responsible fashion, but she's just been continuing to ignore me for the 5th day in a row at school.

Today was the final straw and I was done with this. Cindy Vortex, you are going to talk to me and answer my questions whether you want to or not.

Now to transition into the final phase of plan C.A.V., wait.

**(Cindy's POV)**

I was waiting for my Friday karate practice all week.

I really needed to get in and blow off some steam from this whole week of nothing but Jimmy trying to practically track me down to talk to me.

I wish he'd just leave me alone. Doesn't he see I don't want to talk to him?

I opened my bedroom door and threw my gym bag on my bed and before I was about to walk to my closet... I caught something flashing out of the corner of my eye.

_Wait, what the..._

But before I had time to turn my head to see what it was, I saw this ray of bright light shoot toward from me from that direction and hit me.

I was confused and slightly disoriented when in that next instant... I was frozen in shock at what I was seeing.

I was no longer in my room anymore.

Then I literally felt my stomach tie up in a knot when I looked around and I heard, "Hello Cindy, how nice of you to stop by."

_Are you kidding me right now?!_

I saw the control chair turn around with Jimmy sitting in it with a partially snide smile on his face, but his eyes were intently staring me down.

I was locked in place from the shock of this whole situation. Then in the next instant I was able to get a hold of myself and furrowed my eyebrows at him.

I was NOT going to just take this.

"Neutron! What the heck did you do?! How did I get here?!" I yell, beyond my breaking point with him.

"Oh you know, I was working on my atomizing particle transporter pad and I wanted to test it on a person to see if it worked, but also for another reason to accomplish the old saying of let's see… _killing two birds with one stone_ and decided to test it on you. Also, I think the test can be considered a valid success wouldn't you say so, Cindy?" He explains.

My face shifted to a mixture of uneasiness, confusion, frustration, and anger… but mainly anger at this point.

"That is it! You have officially gone too far this time, Neutron. I'm out of here." I say and start toward the lab door when I heard him say, "Vox, lockdown mode."

Immediately all the windows and doors were sealed with panels that looked like 3 inch thick panels of steel. Then I tried to sprint to the door before that panel closed… oh, crap.

It closed and I put my hand over where the door used to be, feeling like I was completely trapped, and I was.

"I swear Nerdtron, when I get out of here I'm having you arrested for abduction and illegally trapping me down here against my will." I threaten, obviously not liking the current situation, actually to be honest I am genuinely really freaked out right now.

I mean… look at all this! I was practically abducted from my room and now Jimmy just trapped me down here with him in his lab.

There was no way out for me right now, but I'll have to die if he thinks I'm just going to blindly submit to this insanity.

Jimmy gave me a hard glare before he stood up from his chair as he pointed toward me. "Now you wait just one second here, Cindy. You were the one who started this." He says pointedly and also looking entirely frustrated from a couple feet away from me.

But I gave him a look of total shock as I replied, "Me? What could I have done to make you act like a total creepy psychopath and practically kidnap me from my room like this?!"

I was expecting him to yell at me or something like he usually would if we were arguing with each other, but instead he did something I wasn't expecting. I saw his expression relax slightly as he put his fingertips together.

Then he started to pace in front of me, back and forth in a straight line.

It was actually pretty erie now that the only sound I could hear was the sound of his sneakers against the cement floor and my heartbeat practically pounding his synchronization with his steps in this whole completely messed up situation.

I seriously had no idea what was happening right now and with each suspenseful beat my heart felt like it was almost unrealistically crawling into my throat.

I seriously felt incapable of even moving or talking right now. All I felt like I was capable of doing at this moment was breathe and blink.

Then he started talking, still pacing, but making occasional glances in my direction, "Well, let's see… how about we start at the beginning of everything with us? I want to make sure we cover all the points, don't you agree?"

He didn't give me time to answer as he said, "Okay, let's see, ever since kindergarten you have been on my case and practically picked on me incessantly for reasons I don't know. Then in fourth grade to freshman year we started hanging out more and I thought we might have been friends yet you still had to be on my case, for more reasons I don't know. Then finally this year, just when I thought we were being nicer to each other, you started being even more on point with me than ever. For the last two months you have been doing nothing but purposely acting like some kind of screaming harpy toward me and constantly trying to start something with me for no apparent reason. But, then there was what happened five days ago today." He stopped and I looked up to see him looking right at me.

But the weird thing was, I couldn't read his expression. I didn't see anger anymore, confusion maybe? I really didn't know and I had no more time to think about it as he took a couple steps closer to me.

He kept looking right at me before putting his arms behind his back and said, "Monday, you and I were finishing up our project and you were still acting very short with me for, yet again, not apparent reason and then we had that… well, why am I _recapping that_ for you? You were there too and as far as I knew and could tell, that was a pretty _mutual situation_ between us, wouldn't you say? Not to mention, in all seriousness, you were the one who started it and then you completely ran away for whatever reason and now all I'm asking for is an explanation and I'm not taking anything anymore. No more excuses, no more deterrents… Look around you Cindy, there's no one else around and you're 25.6 feet underground, no one is going to see you or hear you. I'm not going to avoid this anymore. So, Cindy, the floor is yours, so tell me… right now." He was very direct and by the time I looked back up, he wasn't even two feet away from me.

His blue eyes were locked on me and took on the most serious glare I have ever seen from him.

I pursed my lips as looked away from him, trying to resist.

"Cindy, just so you know, I'm not going to let you out of here until you tell me the truth. Even if it takes all night." He says, laying out his terms.

I literally felt like I was having a million guns pointed at me right now, even though it was just Jimmy and I down here.

But then I started to think of this whole situation. I seriously knew that Jimmy wasn't going let me leave until I told him. Jimmy never bluffs and if he says something, then that meant that was what was really going to happen if he said.

Not to mention, I also felt indirect fire come from the other direction as I thought back to how I got here and the fact Jimmy wasn't going to let me leave.

My phone is in my gym bag in my room and I'm not in my house and if my parents don't see that I'm home on time for dinner since they know I have no plans for tonight… I would be in trouble.

Ugh, I hate when he does this kind of stuff and out whits me like this… and he even knew everything I just thought about and he knew he had me completely at his _beck and call_ right now.

Well… crap.

I let out a sigh as I mumbled under my breath, totally defeated, "I like you."

He looked toward me instantly when he heard me say something. I looked away, wanting to avoid looking at him. That was until I glanced in front of me and then I practically felt like my whole body was locked up in a state of paralysis and my face felt like it was practically burning when I saw him standing with nothing more than a foot between us and then he had the freaking nerve to say to me, "What was that, Cindy? I didn't quite hear that?"

Then I finally felt something snap as I practically bared my teeth, planted my feet, shoved him to the ground, and then shouted at the top of my lungs directly at him, "I SAID I LIKE YOU, YOU IRRITATING, BIG BRAINED NIMROD!"

I practically heard what I just yelled echo and slowly fade around me. I didn't know what to do, so I just crossed my arms and looked away from him.

Well, that _wasn't_ completely degrading at all. Look at me?! I just screamed that I liked Jimmy right to his face. Well, that's one thing I can never take back doing.

I just confessed that I like Jimmy Neutron... again, to his face!

It was almost painfully quiet, not even awkward, it was _way_ beyond that point. This was like painful as in someone ripping out all your finger and toenails, but personally, at this point… I'd definitely take the latter.

It was like both of us, including the whole room itself, was still letting what just happened sink in.

Why did I have to kiss him? WHY?! Nothing about or including this whole insane, cockamamie situation would have ever happened. But nope, I just had to let my feelings get between us and make out with Jimmy.

UGH, but why did it have to feel so right and be on my mind almost constantly after it happened?!

I seriously feel disgusted with myself right now, he probably doesn't really like me that way either after how much I've ridiculed him over the years. Ugh, I seriously…

"Cindy?" I heard when I felt something hesitantly rest on my shoulder and I looked over when I saw it was his hand. I looked back at him guardedly as he just kept looking at me.

But, again, I couldn't really read exactly what his expression was supposed to be. It wasn't anger, or him looking like he was going to ridicule me… actually it kind of looked like something softer.

Actually at this moment… wait, was Jimmy nervous?

He gulped a little before saying, "Cindy, do you really… mean that?"

I felt every blood vessel in my head pulsating in a state of flustered frustration. I just shrugged off his hand and walked away to another corner of the room and crossed my arms.

This seriously this can't be happening. Ugh, but it is happening. I was able to keep my feelings to myself since I was 11 and now all that has thrown out the window and all crap has hit the world's largest fan.

I was just trying to maintain my attitude as my only defense.

"Please, don't make me say it again." I say, still completely flustered, annoyed, and pretty embarrassed about this whole aggravating situation. "But… wait, Cindy. Why didn't you just tell me?" He inquired of me.

I huffed to myself, still flustered, as I turned around and said, "Well... ugh, I don't know?! This isn't something I exactly want everyone to know about and seriously, like you wouldn't like to see me look completely pathetic right now."

It was quiet.

"Why do you say that? I mean, do you not think I... _feel_ that way about you too?" He says, sounding slightly standoffish and nervous.

I looked toward him and saw his face reflecting both those things I just thought as I watched him nervously rub the back of his neck. But then what he just said finally hit me.

"You mean… you actually, _like_ me too?" I say, completely hesitant, still not believing this conversation was actually happening.

Wait, am I blushing?

At first I thought I was seeing things, but I thought I saw Jimmy… blushing too? But then he looked at me and I could tell that I wasn't seeing things, but both of us were blushing in this totally awkward and uncomfortable situation.

I saw Jimmy purse his lips nervously before admitting, "Um… yeah, actually. I've liked you for a while, to be really honest."

I looked at him and I think he could tell that my answer was the same.

But then he started again, "Also, why would you think I would tell anyone about this?"

Here we go, he's literally going for every insecurity I have about myself right now. But, now that there was finally honesty between us for once, why not?

This whole situation is already completely awkward.

"Look, you know how everyone's been with this, about us, and I just don't want be an object of ridicule and teasing by everyone at school and have my privacy invaded about this." I admit honestly.

As really crappy as that sounds, that was really how I feel. My biggest nightmare would be for everyone to be sticking their noses into my business and if Jimmy and I were to just start dating, everyone would not shut up about it or let it go until we graduated high school. I swear to that.

"Well, you know… I don't know why you think I wouldn't agree with you, about the _going public thing_." He finally admits.

I whipped my head over to look at him again, shocked about what he said.

I didn't know what to really say without sounding stupid or weird, but Jimmy started talking again, "Cindy, look, I don't know about you, but all this fighting we've been doing over the past 11 years has really started to get old to me. I mean look at us, for the past 5 years we've been hanging out more and more with each other and yet all we did was fight and argue all the time… I mean, why were we really even fighting?"

"Oh well… I mean, I guess… actually I honestly have no idea, probably just because of other people that were around." I express honestly, seeing Jimmy's point.

"See? All that time we were hanging out we were at each other's throats instead of actually just talking and being friends. Like, for example, do we even know each other's birthdays or favorite colors or something basic like that about each other." Jimmy points out… and I really started thinking.

It was like an epiphany.

Jimmy and I, for spending a lot of time around each other, never really ever got to know the simplest things about each other, all because of us arguing all the time.

The realization was still sinking in as I said out loud, "Wow, you're actually right."

"Cindy, I'm really tired of all this and… I honestly think you're actually a really great person and… I've always really respected you and I really want us to be able to stop all this constant, ridiculous arguing and actually get to know each other. Because I would actually really like to get to know you more." He says, smiling a little at me, but he was still blushing at me, still looking nervous about it.

But it wasn't like I was feeling like crawling out of my skin either, because that's seriously how I feel right now. I still didn't know exactly how to respond, but I did want to be honest with him after practically lying to him about how I really felt about him for the past 5 years.

"Look Jimmy, not that I wouldn't like to do that. But, it's not like Retroville is exactly _the low profile_ capital of the United States and we can just hang out in plain sight. Because what's the alternative? We go around town together with paper bags over our heads?" I point out, not seeing exactly how this would work, as I crossed my arms.

But Jimmy was almost instant with a response, "I thought about that, but I never meant we go out around town. Out in public we can act like we typically would with each other, but in private I just want us to actually be… _us_ around each other. No more lying or covering up or fighting… and no one needs to know at all. Not anyone at school, not our parents, and trust me I do not want Carl and Sheen to know. Sheen has that stupid bet going about us that he thinks I'm totally blind to even though I totally know about it and you even know Carl can't lie or keep a secret to save his life." Jimmy says, expressing the same struggle I felt with this.

"Oh yeah, especially after the whole us cutting class to go to Egypt and he ratted us out once, almost twice. Also, same here with Libby. She's usually good about keeping secrets, but you know how much of a _gossip_ she is deep down and if she found out, it would not take literally a millisecond for it to get around the entire town. That and I don't want to give her the satisfaction of saying ' _I told you so_.'" I say, knowing that's _exactly_ what Libby would do if she found out if Jimmy and I were dating each other.

Then I looked down when I saw Jimmy grab one of my hands hanging at my sides as he said, "So, what do you think of my _proposed hypothesis_? And maybe now you can actually start calling me by my first name, when it's just us."

We both laughed a little at the truth of what he just said. It was entirely true that in our entire time of knowing each other, I have only called him Jimmy barely a single handful of times.

I looked up at him as I grabbed his other hand and smiled a little and he was smiling right back at me as I admitted, entirely honestly, "I'd really like that… Jimmy."

**_The next day_ **

**(Libby's POV)**

I was cleaning my room and I kept looking back at my phone and Cindy still wasn't getting back to me about whether or not she wanted to hang out or something tonight. But if she doesn't, that's fine by me.

I wouldn't mind a night in listening to some new CD's I just got and sketching some new designs in my sketch pad.

I was putting away some clothes my mom just brought up for me from the laundry room when my phone started to go off, but I knew _exactly_ who it was when I heard the Ultralord theme song, honestly something I thought would never go on my phone ever, but honestly if that doesn't fit Sheen then what does?

Also he never calls me, so now I'm curious.

I just shrugged and picked up, "Hey Sheen, what's up?" "Hey Libs, uh… okay, can I ask you something?" He asks, sounding like he was trying really hard to get that out.

I quirked an eyebrow up as I said back, "Sure Sheen, what's on your mind?" "Alright, there's a 8:00 showing for that old school horror movie _The Gleaming_ and I was wondering if you wanted to come see it?" He asks.

"Oh that's cool, is it going to be the usual. You, me, Carl, Jimmy, and Cindy?" I ask, thinking we were going for a group hang out at the movies. But then I heard Sheen let out a deep breath over the phone as I heard him say, "Uh… actually, no. I was just asking if you wanted to go, like just you and me?"

_Wait… is this actually what I think is happening right now? Is this Sheen actually asking me to go out with him?_

I bit my lip a little but I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I said back, "Sure Sheen, that sounds like fun."

"SWEET! I mean, uh, that's cool. I'll pick you up in the van in an hour." I was trying so hard not to laugh at Sheen trying to _play it cool_ , but I was still so beyond happy right now about this.

Sheen _actually_ asked me out to go somewhere with him, sure it wasn't homecoming like I was hoping for, but I was _not_ about to turn this down for anything. Maybe he might actually _finally_ make a move tonight!

**(Sheen's POV)**

I waited until I hung up and I literally could not hold it in.

"YEAH, I knew it!" I said. I mean, I actually didn't, but she said yes!

My dad even told me he saw this movie when he was in high school and he said it was pretty scary, which means Libby will be clinging to me the whole time when something scares her.

Man, I'm so pumped for this! She sounded like really wanted to to go out with me! ME!

I just know I'm totally gonna get to kiss her later tonight.

Oh yeah, I totally got this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Sheen finally asked Libby to go out with him and he seems pretty cocky about his chances like the supposed ladies man he thinks he is… but we all know Sheen isn't as smooth with the ladies as he thinks from the show, right everyone? XD Also, Jimmy and Cindy finally seem to be on same page now… only took them long enough, right? (; Also, if you caught what old school Horror movie I parodied in this then, Congratulations you win 1,000,000 points with no monetary value whatsoever! Sorry guys. lol. :P Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this insanely long chapter and I'd love to hear your feedback on this. It always means a lot to hear from you guys. Have a good one!
> 
> Stay Classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	11. Rendezvous, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, my lovely readers! This chapter was originally supposed to be two in one, but I decided to just make it a two parter to avoid making it too overly long. Although this one is slightly lengthy too, but I wanted to give you guys a nice long chapter. Hope you enjoy it. :)

**(Cindy's POV)**

I was just working on an extra credit sheet for Mr. Harris's class, sure it's late Saturday evening and Libby would probably be rolling her eyes at me right now for making extra work for myself on the weekend, but I want all my grades to be solid all year so that finals won't be entirely too stressful before winter break.

I kept working when my phone went off and I saw I got a txt… a txt from Jimmy, making me smile a little to myself.

Although I still won't deny how weird it is that Jimmy and I are finally being _civil_ with each other, but it was nice.

Sure Jimmy cornered me into talking with him yesterday using the most insane method possible to make me talk to him... but at the same time, especially with how everything turned out and we pretty much… _came clean_ with each other. Also, I knew it was partially my fault for pushing him into making me confront him in that way, not that I'd still ever admit that because it was still a completely ludicrous and insane thing that he did.

But I'm actually really relieved that there was honesty between us now.

Also, I have no qualms with what we're doing and especially since I know that Jimmy agrees with me in the sense that there's really no point into us going public since we both didn't want to and want to keep this private.

In public and with our friends, it was still just _business as usual_ and no one will suspect a thing… and then in private when it was just us, we can finally just be… _us_ around each other. Which at this point I'm very happy about the fact that Jimmy and I can finally be honest and talk to each other without everyone being there.

Just to be able to really get to know each other and see where this goes with us.

I opened up the txt:

_If you're not busy, come by the lab. Also, bring a light jacket._

I quirked up an eyebrow at that last part. What would I need a light jacket for?

Then again, Jimmy is the definition of _spontaneity_ and I've been on his party for way more adventures than I can count throughout the past five years, but I guess I won't question it entirely too much.

This was Jimmy after all.

I shrugged and got a light jacket out of my closet and started to make my way over.

Also, I know, wouldn't people get suspicious by the fact that I'm heading to Jimmy's lab a lot more than usual? Well, we thought about that and we have a perfect excuse.

Jimmy and I are just using the excuse that we're just meeting to study.

After all, we are in 4 out of our 5 classes together and Jimmy and I are very studious so saying that we just meet at his lab to study is a perfect cover.

We have it all figured out and so that gives me all the more reason to want to hang out more with Jimmy and see where this goes between us.

* * *

I walked up to the lab door and looked over my shoulder just as a precaution as I simultaneously knocked on the door.

Just because Jimmy and I have a cover still doesn't that I'm completely fine having Carl and Sheen possibly coming over and seeing me here to get suspicious.

Well, probably not Sheen, Libby txted me about an hour ago that she was going with him to the movies.

Okay, Libby can go out with whoever she wants and it's none of my business, but on some level I do question her still for her liking and having a thing for… _ugh_ , Sheen.

But, like I said, I just don't understand exactly what she sees in someone as immature, annoying, and weird as Sheen. Okay granite, Sheen isn't a bad guy, but he's just still so obnoxious and _irritating_ to me.

I waited for a second before I felt the mat come out from under me as I fell down before impacting the cement floor of the lab… _ouch_.

I sat up, looking slightly annoyed as I said, "Um, have you ever heard of just opening the clubhouse door instead of dropping your visitors down a hole?"

He turned around from his desk, looking at me as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck, and said, "Sorry, force of habit."

He walked over to me, smiling a little, and said, "Actually, I'm working on the atomizing particle transporter I used before to make a more permanent and efficient model that you'll be able to use in the near future."

He held out his hand to me, still smiling, and I smiled a little back as I grabbed his hand and got off the ground, grabbing my jacket.

"So, what exactly are we doing that requires a jacket in the lab? Is your Thermostat on the fritz and in danger of causing another ice age like last time?" I taunt slightly.

"Hey, that was only one time; also in my defense, I was eleven and I misread a sunblock bottle before shooting it into the stratosphere ... Also who said anything about staying in the lab? In fact, I thought we'd go on a little expedition for the next couple hours." He says, giving me a slightly mysterious smirk.

I put my hands on my hips as I shifted an eyebrow at him and said, "Jimmy, what are you trying to play at right now? Not that I wouldn't like to go on an insane _expedition_ to some cold, desolate wasteland in the antarctic, but I'd really prefer not to endanger my life today."

Jimmy snorted out a slight laugh and replied, "Our destination is not a cold desolate wasteland and it's nowhere near the antarctic actually. Not to mention, we'd be pretty ill equipped for that sort of thing. Where we're going… a light jacket is enough for this time of year. Just trust me, you'll see."

Then he just started to walk to his lab door. He opened the door and motioned for me to go first. Okay, I'm still a bit skeptical about this… but then again, it's Jimmy Neutron… what do I expect?

We made our way down to the lower level of his lab and he had us get into the hovercar. He started it up and Jimmy looked toward me and said, "I actually just had my neutronic drones finish constructing a new addition to my tunnel system that lets out in the woods outside Retroville. It offers a perfect route to go completely undetected, not to mention it leads North, which is exactly where we want to go."

"North? Like up to Canada?" I ask, wondering where he was taking us, or why exactly he was taking us somewhere up north.

"Close… we're going to one of the Northernmost portions of the North American continent. But, that's all I'm giving away." He hints, grinning to himself at the fact that I was still completely in the dark about whatever he had planned.

Before I could even say anything we took off through the tunnels, winding through different pathways until I saw light and we made our way out into the forest North of Retroville. We were going to fast to have a normal conversation and not require us to shout at each other, so I just kept looking over the edge at the surroundings.

We kept going and I noticed we started to slow down a little and then I looked over and saw Jimmy putting the autopilot on as he looked toward me.

"We might want to put on our jackets before we reach the temperature drop. We're ¼ of the way from our destination." He informs, smiling in my direction as he put on his jacket that was thrown in the hovercar and I did the same thing, even though I still have no idea what heck is going on.

Well, that was until we eventually started to hover over this one area and we started to descend. I looked over at him as he said, "Welcome to Northern Alaska."

I looked around and noticed we were headed into this valley, no towns or even signs of people in general around for miles.

We got out of the hover car and I was still really confused, especially when I saw Jimmy pull his hyper-cube out of his pocket before I saw a cooler and a picnic blanket spread out on the ground.

"Um, Jimmy… not that I don't appreciate the effort, but we could've went somewhere closer if you just wanted to plan to watch the last of the sunset and stargaze." I point out, wondering why he would take us over 3,000 miles away just to do something as simple as just hanging out and star gazing.

I mean, I know neither of us want to be seen by anyone we know, but even to me traveling to Alaska to do it is kind of ridiculous.

Jimmy was just standing there looking at the sky and looking at his watch repeatedly.

"Um, hello? Earth to Jimmy Neutron, what's going on?" I ask, feeling annoyed that he wasn't answering my question, and putting my hands on my hips as I walked up to him. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at me as I walked up before looking back at his watch as he explained, "You'll see in 3… 2… 1. Now."

He looked up at the sky.

I looked up and I still felt completely confused about what he was talking about until… I saw it.

My eyes went wide and I knew my mouth was hanging open a little at what I saw. The sky lit up into incredible waves of color, the northern lights.

I was still in complete awe as I watched the waves rolling and changing color throughout the sky. As I was still staring at the sky, I heard Jimmy start talking.

"Okay, I know I've never been a very _romantically inclined_ guy and I'm still new to this kind of situation with dating and I just didn't want us to do something completely unoriginal for a first date. So… I thought about places that could help make up for my lack of _dating experience_ and so I researched and I found out that the electromagnetic spectrum patterns of the Aurora Borealis were very vibrant around this time and… I don't know. I just thought it would be a cool thing to observe together." He sounded like he didn't know whether he could tell if I liked this or not because I was still completely silent.

"Jimmy… this is beautiful." I say, still trying to let everything sink in and the fact that Jimmy actually took me to see this as a date.

"So… you like it?" He asks, still sounding hesitant. I was finally able to look at him. He was giving me a matching hesitant look. I smiled a little as I looked down slightly and grabbed his hand.

"This is completely amazing, Jimmy. I mean it." I say, completely honest.

Look… I'm not a person who's easily impressed by just anything, but I was completely over awed right now by all this. Also, in Jimmy's way, this was how he was just being sweet and considerate of thinking about and considering what I might like.

I felt his fingers close around my hand as I saw him smile at me a little.

"Oh, it was nothing really, but I'm glad to hear you like it. So… shall we?" He says as he motioned to the picnic blanket on the ground. "We shall." I answer back, making us laugh a little as we both sat down on the blanket together.

I was looking back up at the sky until I was pulled back when I heard Jimmy talking again.

"Are you thirsty?" He asks, reaching for the cooler. I nodded and said, "Yeah, I could have a drink." Jimmy smiled a little as he pulled out these two glasses and then he pulled out a glass liter bottle of Purple Flurp.

"Wow, Purple Flurp from a glass bottle? How sophisticated." I say, still impressed that he put a lot of effort into this. Well, actually, this was technically our first real date.

We both tried to forget the outcome of that kind of sort of date that one Valentine's Day since he blew me off and shot me out of his lab on top of that. Whatever, it was in the past and we were 11, so it doesn't even count anyway.

"Well, I wanted to make an effort for this." He says pouring me a glass and handing it to me. "Well, I appreciate it. Thanks." I say and Jimmy held out his glass to me and we clinked glasses together before taking a sip.

After that we both laid down on the blanket and just looked up at the sky. It was quiet, but it was a comfortable kind of quiet if that makes any sense.

I looked down slightly when I noticed Jimmy holding my hand again. I smiled a slightly to myself as I looked over at Jimmy and saw him smiling a little back at me. I closed my fingers around his hand as I looked back to the sky.

Even though we weren't saying anything, I was still comfortable with this situation. I just felt really calm right now.

It was quiet for another minute or two before I heard Jimmy say, "Hey Cindy, can I ask you something?" I looked over and saw Jimmy shifted onto his side, propping his head up with his free hand that wasn't holding mine. I did the same as I said, "Sure, what's going on?"

"Well, okay, I'm sorry to bring up something about the past with us, but I'm kind of curious. I've just noticed that in the past couple years you stopped calling me _King Cranium_ or _Franken-Head_ or _Brainzilla_ or some other comment like that had to do with making fun of the size of my head and… I don't know, I was just wondering why?" He asks.

I bit my lip slightly, still feeling guilty about taunting him about stuff like that since kindergarten.

But I shrugged and decided to be honest, "Well, you got taller and you kind of _grew into your head_ , so... it just kind of seemed… _superfluous_ and really stupid to still say stuff like that when it made no sense anymore."

"Yet, _Nerdtron_ was still considered 'non-superfluous' for you to call me?" He says, teasing me with a small taunting grin. I gave him a look as I said, "Don't push it, pal." That made us both laugh again.

Once the laughing died down, I let out a sigh before continuing, "But, anyway, since we're asking questions… can I ask you about something?"

"Yeah, sure Cindy, go ahead." He says, shifting a little more to stay on his side more comfortable, smiling at me and still holding my hand as I felt his thumb brush lightly over the back of my hand, which actually felt really nice as he kept doing that.

Eventually I finally decided to just ask my very _peculiar_ question, "Okay, so… what's with the sudden _change of hairstyle_ this year?" He smirked a little and shook his head as he replied, "Why does everyone keep bringing this trivial subject up about me? It's just hair."

"Jimmy come on, you used to have that same hairstyle ever since we met and then all of a sudden you just show up out of nowhere with something else?" I point out, giving him an expectant look, still wanting the answer to my question, though I'll admit the weird/randomness of it too.

He let out a slight laugh before smiling a little at me again and said, "Okay, okay… well, it was actually kind of recent decision. It started about two weeks before school started when I went to the world's fair to display one of my new inventions along with a group of other scientists, very famous scientists at that. I felt really honored that I was asked to be apart of it, since I just turned 17 the day before I went over and was the youngest one to be apart of it… but that came with a draw back. Every one of the scientists and science critics there were treating me like some ammature little kid and not even taking me or my work seriously. One of the critics even ruffled my hair and called my work _cute_ , which was completely degrading. But then later that night when I came home and I looked at myself in the mirror… I realized part of the reason everyone was treating me like a kid. It was my appearance, mainly my hair, that made me look like I was… well, a kid. Therefore making adults unable to take me seriously. I had that image of myself when I was kid still going through my brain and I didn't want to be forever known as the _cute, adorable boyish scientist_ ; I want everyone to take me seriously. Well, I really knew I had to do something because that next week I was invited to a Nobel Prize dinner and ceremonial event to receive an honorable mention for my _Neutronic salt to freshwater converter_ , and I did not want a repeat of the world's fair. I knew that if I wanted to earn the respect of my fellow scientific peers… I had to present myself in a more mature fashion… so, I gave myself a more mature look. Hence, my new hairstyle." He said, concluding his explanation.

He glanced away, thinking he bored me with his lengthy explanation, as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand as he said, "I know, I know, it's a dumb reason. Go ahead and laugh." "No, trust me Jimmy, I get it too. I feel the same way when I go to my karate competitions now." I say, completely getting what he meant by not being treated with respect by adults in certain situations.

Jimmy gave me a beyond confused look as he said, "Huh? What are you talking about? You're the best martial artist at your dojo, you're the youngest to be asked to be invited to compete in an 18+ competition, and you're the youngest to win. How can you feel depreciated?"

At first, I felt really felt flattered by his compliment, but I maintained my focus on my annoyance with my situation in martial arts at the moment.

"Trust me, that wasn't it. At those adult karate competitions, those judges and my competitors treated me like some stupid little kid. It's like that fact that I'm now 17, have a driver's license, and am the youngest person to receive a 9th Dan black belt at my dojo didn't mean anything to them. Even when I beat all my competitors, all of them still had the nerve to tell me that I _got lucky_. 'I' _do not_ just _get lucky_ and they lost because they underestimated me and weren't as good as me." I explain, still entirely frustrated from that experience three weekends ago at that competition… that I _WON_ by the way.

But, then another thought crossed my mind.

Jimmy and I actually did have more in common than you'd think, which still makes me feel bad that Jimmy and I only just yesterday stopped this game of practically being at each others' throats. But, at least we got here sooner rather than later and are finally getting along.

I saw Jimmy smiling at me and I smiled a little back at him as I looked back at the sky.

We kept making small talk every now and then, but then a breeze came through and I think Jimmy noticed as I took my hand away to cross my arms to cover up that I was cold.

"Are you cold?" He asks, sitting up a little. I just shrugged and tried to brush it off, "No, I'm fine, really." "Are you sure?" He asks, and I noticed him shift a little closer to me, looking at me with an inquisitive expression, almost like he could see I wasn't being entirely honest.

I glanced over toward him when I noticed that we were pretty much as close side-by-side as we could be and, well… oh... screw it.

I slowly inched closer to him to the point where we were pretty much cuddling and… okay, I really wanted to do this.

I was really having a _really_ nice time with Jimmy. I just felt relaxed, almost at ease, something I'm not used to feeling on a regular basis. But around Jimmy, especially now that there was no more covering up between us anymore, I felt almost free… refreshed even.

I looked up at him as I simultaneously felt one of his hands move in a slow circle on my upper back. I just saw him smiling at me and I smiled back as we just continued with the situation.

As time went on a little bit, I heard him start to sniff something.

I sat up ever so slightly and looked toward him as I said, "What's going on?"

He looked away from me a little as his face turned red a little bit while he let out a nervous breath before admitting, "Oh, it's nothing… You just smell really… pretty… actually _resplendent_. If you don't mind me saying so." He bit his lip slightly as he looked away.

I felt a blush come up on my face too. Okay… I maybe, possibly… alright fine, I put some perfume on before I came over to the lab earlier.

What? Don't judge me.

I smiled a little as I kept looking at him and said, "Thanks. I put it on earlier today for no reason." We kept maintaining eye contact with each other. Jimmy was still giving me that small smile, his face was _completely_ red, as he said, "I really like it."

_I'll have to make a note of that._

Neither of us looked away and the longer we kept looking at each other… I could have sworn our faces were slowly but surely getting closer.

We kept leaning closer until finally closing the distance between us and settled into that same situation from almost a week ago. I leaned into him a little more as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

Then I smiled to myself when I felt him kissing me back as our lips continued to move in perfect sequence, causing both of us to sigh a little bit.

Like I said to myself before, I can't deny to myself how absolutely _right_ this feels between us.

I couldn't stop myself as I practically pulled him toward me until he was hovering slightly above me as we continued. My eyes shot open slightly as his lips drifted away from mine and they traveled down to my jawline before I gasped when he drifted to my neck.

I felt a shiver go down my spine, but ugh did it feel so _nice_.

Then he hit a spot on the side of my neck and I couldn't stop myself as I let out a quiet laugh and I heard him chuckle a little bit to himself, both of us _clearly_ enjoying this right now. I laughed a little to myself again as he kept hovering over that spot on my neck.

"Jimmy, stop that." I said half heartedly as I kept laughing to myself a little.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely not regretting _anything_ right now.

Then my eyes opened again when I felt him slowly stop before he looked at me. Both of our breathing was still picked up slightly, but I saw Jimmy pursing his lips slightly, looking like he was really deep in thought about something.

I gave him a confused look as I sat up a little and asked, wondering why he got cold on what we were doing just now, "What's going on?"

He looked away slightly and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, still looking like he was in deep thought as he said, "Um… actually, and I know this is kind of weird but when we're _alone_ like this, you know… you can call me James." I tilted my head at him and asked, "Why? Do you really… want me to?"

Jimmy looked away again, rubbing the back of his neck, before looking back at me out the corner of his eyes and smiling a little as he explained, "Yeah, I know. It's kind of strange, but to be honest since 8th grade I actually do prefer people to call me James rather than Jimmy. It's kind of part of me wanting to be more mature in the scientific community to be taken more seriously. After all, the inventions I have on the market are patented using my real full name and why I introduce myself to people at scientific functions as James now. But, since my family and friends have been calling me Jimmy my whole life… it's hard to make them break that habit."

I sat up a little more, looking at him intrigued as I responded, "Okay… so then why are you asking me to call you by your real name now when we've technically known each other since we were 5?"

He smiled a little as he admitted, "Well, like I said, I do prefer to be called James and I just thought I'd ask you since calling me by my first name is still a relatively fresh concept for you… I just thought I'd ask. Also… it would be nice to have someone calling me James in a positive connotation rather than just when my mom used to call me by my full name when my inventions used to get me into trouble." We both let out a short laugh before there was a period of silence.

I glanced down when I saw his fingers intertwining with the fingers on my left hand as he said, "So, what do you think? Or is it too much of a ridiculous request for you?" I looked up at him and saw a small smile on his face. I returned the gesture.

I shrugged a little before saying, "No, I think I can handle it… besides, I think I can get used to _James_." His smile got a little bigger as he put his hand on the side of my face and said, "Thanks Cindy."

I smiled as I inched a little closer to him and gave him the hint, making him lean in and kiss me again.

Alright, I think this is something that can definitely work. Also after this, I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Jimmy.

Let's just say that I can definitely get used to this, _for sure_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the JimmyxCindy interaction. Thank you guys so much for reading and reviews are always appreciated. I really look forward to hearing any opinions you all have of the story so far. Up next is Sheen and Libby's date.
> 
> Stay classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	12. Rendezvous, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello everyone… after 3 years! Haha. It has been a while I know, but it's been a really busy 3 years. For those of you who haven't read my other stories to know what's been going on, I recently graduated university and barely had a lot of free time nor inspiration to write for multiple different fanfics over the past couple years due to school. So, I prioritized my TMNT Flirting with the Enemy series over this story for those 3 years just because I had so many more people following that series and I also had more inspiration to write for it. But, I did not forget this story and just wanted to wait until I had more free time to write and had more inspiration to do so. Also, for myself and many other writers on this site, reviews and PMs are everything. I like to receive constructive feedback on my postings so I can get a feel for what you all liked or would like to see more of and I didn't have many people reviewing on this story until after I had to put this story on the back burner for a while, so deeply apologize to all of you for neglecting this fanfic. But I am back and I hope to give you all more chapters in the future! So, without further or do and to reward all you lovely people for your patience, here is the long awaited Sheen and Libby's date! Also, be sure to read the ending note for more info. Enjoy!

**(Libby's POV)**

I was just hanging out in the living room, except unlike that very _bizarre_ Valentine's Day… I'm really looking forward to this.

To be straight up, I was not expecting Sheen to call me and ask me to go to the movies with him… but you have no idea how long I've been waiting for something like this to happen. Sheen actually stepped up and finally did something to show me he's _actually_ interested without me having to spell it out like I usually have had to do every other time with him.

But, as much as that boy drives me insane for being so clueless despite flirting constantly… I, again, _still_ can't stop myself from liking him.

Also, yeah horror movies may be more Cindy's thing than mine and we've both seen this one already at Ike's way back, but hey… I'll give it a shot.

Plus, maybe this isn't the only _move_ he's planning on making? Right then I saw Mr. Estevez's van and I tried to get up and go out asap so… "Where are you going?" I turned around and saw my dad at the end of the hall.

I bit my lip a little before I said, "Just going with Sheen to the movies. No big deal." I could see that _look_ on my dad's face as he said, "Okay... have fun." I just tried to pass myself off as everything was cool as I smiled before walking out the door to meet up with Sheen in the van.

Even though, that just brought up a completely other thing from this all together. My parents have never come out and said it, but I know they aren't really that _into_ the idea of me and Sheen and like everyone else they also don't get why I like Sheen.

Well, its not like they hate Sheen, but… I think they just can't understand why out of every other guy I hang out with that it has be him kind of a thing.

But, there's no point in making a huge thing out of this when they just aren't going to get it.

And hey, as long as they aren't stopping me from hanging out with Sheen, I'm not gonna complain about it.

_**20 minutes later** _

**(Sheen's POV)**

I am completely on fire right now!

Everything's going AWESOME so far! Picked her up in the van, paid for _both_ the tickets, and we just got into the perfect seats for me to make my move later. I am a PRO at this!

This'll be cake!

**{(No POV)}**

The theater went dark several minutes ago and the theater was kind of sparsely attended, but that was to be expected for an older movie showing.

But, where Sheen and Libby were sitting toward the back of the theater… the movie obviously didn't seem like priority, but not for the usual reason of a teenage couple at the movies. Libby was sitting in her chair and trying to seem remotely interested despite clearly being interested in _something else_ as she just kept glancing at Sheen subtly every now and then.

Clearly waiting for something to happen. Sheen, also pretending to care about the movie, kept looking next to him at Libby and also looking like he was trying to keep himself from royally freaking out about why this was so hard for him to do anything right now.

He didn't get it. Why was it almost impossible for him to do this?!

He was almost to the point of practically chewing off his bottom lip. After a few more painful, tense minutes of absolutely nothing happening. Sheen pressed his back to the seat back of his chair and decided to just do it. He took a deep breath and glanced over at Libby one last time before finally deciding to just do _something_.

So, he finally tried the most overplayed move in the book as he pretended like he was stretching out his arms before just trying to casually put his right around around Libby's shoulders… or at least as casual as Sheen can do anything, but that was all he had.

He was practically trying to force himself out of being nervous until he did was he always did to relax himself and put his leg behind his head.

**(Sheen's POV)**

UGH! REALLY?! But, look… IT WAS ALL I HAD!

Oh, yeah, she's probably _totally digging_ this right now. Its like, hey! I've had a crush on you practically forever and you're probably into too… here's me putting the most awkward move on you possible!

Man, she's probably completely… wait.

I looked down and saw her rest her head on my shoulder. Wait… seriously? Is this happening? IS THIS HAPPENING?! YES! Ha, what was I even freaking out about? I TOTALLY got this!

_**2 hours later** _

**{(No POV)}**

"Was it just me, or was that movie not as scary as I remembered when we watched it at Ike's house?" Sheen said as they pulled up to the Folfax's house in his dad's van, trying to keep himself from losing his cool as he kept glancing down and trying not to completely freak out as he looked their still joined hands.

After the movie, they held hands all the way to the parking lot and continued to hold hands as they drove home.

Not that this was the first time they ever held hands, but… this was different.

Like it was something that could _actually_ lead somewhere, especially since this was pretty much a full on date scenario.

"You mean, back in 6th grade when that kid got cut off by the twins in the hall and you jumped out the open window and fell in Ike's mom's rose bush right outside?" Libby recalled, trying not to laugh or cringe in embarrassment at the memory. "Hey! That was one time!… and I was also picking thorns out of my butt for a week after that." Sheen defended, even though his mind was still on _something else_.

Something he's been wanting to ask for a while and especially with time starting to run out, he knew it was now or never.

But, they just kept looking at each other, almost like they were each expecting something to happen. Libby was especially giving Sheen a _look_ , still giving Sheen his chance to make a move of some kind on his own.

But… nothing.

At that point Libby, looked to Sheen and just saw him awkwardly looking back at her and she decided to just leave since nothing else was happening as she said, "Well, see ya, Sheen."

Right as she clicked her door open to get out she heard, "Uh, Libby?"

She looked back, not knowing what exactly Sheen wanted since this whole night to her and been pretty unexpected. Sure not that a lot of things with Sheen are ever normal. But, as far as she was concerned, this was the most that either of them have really ever done.

They went to a movie, Sheen put his arm around her during it... even though he also had one of his legs behind his head too but that was besides the point to her, and they held hands for probably the longest they have held hands ever after the movie was over… she just couldn't figure out what exactly this whole _date_ was really about to Sheen.

"Yeah, Sheen, what's up?" Libby asked, looking unsure about what exactly was going on right now.

"It's uh… Would you like to… you know… go to Homecoming… with me?" Sheen said, clearly looking nervous.

Despite the fact Sheen asked her out on a date 6 years ago that one Valentines Day or that they usually dance with each other at school dances anyway, this was the first time that either of them officially asked each other to a school dance ever.

At first Libby couldn't believe what she just heard Sheen ask, but rather than make something out of it for no reason, she just kept herself cool and smiled as she said, "Yeah, sure, I'd like that."

She hesitated but eventually decided to just go with her first instinct and since they still had privacy, she leaned forward a little and gave him a kiss on the lips. Nothing too much, just a quick peck, but it was still enough to make Sheen's eyes go wide in complete shock at a first actual kiss between them.

But, Libby just backed away casually, even though she was still trying to keep herself contained by what happened, as she gave she one last smile before saying as she was getting out of the car, "Night Sheen."

It's like Sheen had no idea how to react since all he could was stare as Libby just walked past the van and into her house, but not before smiling and giving Sheen one last smile and slight wave his way before walking into her house.

Sheen just continued to sit there in the van, his mouth open, and still almost in a rare state of silent shock.

**(Libby's POV)**

I just got in and I pretty much had to stop everything, still not believing what I _actually_ did.

Sure it wasn't a lot or really anything much, since to me just a peck on lips like that is barely anything when you're not in 6th grade. But for me and Sheen… that was kind of a long time coming since the last kind of sort of kiss we had was all the way back on that weird date we had on Valentine's day.

Still… I couldn't believe I _actually_ kissed Sheen.

But, maybe this is just what needed to happen for Sheen to finally step up. And with Homecoming coming up… who knows what's gonna happen? I was going to go up to my room when I immediately heard a car door slam shut. I looked outside and…

_Oh…_

I immediately felt myself cringe a little internally when I saw Sheen jumping around doing that weird dance in my front yard, pretty much giving me flashbacks from when I was almost 12.

On some level though, what else do I expect?

Sheen may be 18 and have a job now, but in the real ways he's still the same and that's exactly why I like Sheen. He may seem weird and bizarre, but you gotta give him credit for keeping it real by being himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter may not seem like much compared to the Jindy chapter. Some of you may be like "Seriously Dexter? We wait patiently for 3 years and this is all we get?!". I'd understand if you felt that way to be honest. Haha. But this chapter is really only meant to be a bridge chapter to something more and believe me I definitely have more in mind for this story. More interactions between the characters, events, and POV writing are on the way! Also, as I was looking around a while back, I found a petition online that someone started to bring back Jimmy Neutron to Nickelodeon and I more than happily signed it to show my support for the show's revival since it was a show that had a huge impact on me during my formative years and was one of many shows I watched that sparked my interest in science as a kid and eventually got me to the point of graduating from university with a medical science degree. So, if you would like to support the petition as well, you can find it by searching on google and I'm sure the creator of the petition, Brittany Campbell, would greatly appreciate the support toward the 20,000 signatures she needs after starting the petition years ago. Perhaps together, all of us fans can help bring back the Nickelodeon we all remember and love. Anyway, thanks again so much for reading and I will see you all next time. As always constructive reviews are appreciated and have an awesome day!
> 
> Stay Classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	13. Ruse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um… hello again all!... I hope you are all not angry with me. Although I would understand if you were after me constantly leaving you guys hanging so much. Lol. So, I deeply apologize. But, its a new year and I want to write more for this fanfic again now that I have a stroke of inspiration for it! Also, I thought I'd make a chapter just in time for the Valentine's day season and also as a token of apology to all of you of have enjoyed this fanfic thus far! I hope you enjoy it! :)

**({No POV})**

"In conclusion, although astatine is only a decay product of certain heavier elements, it still has its place of significance… unlike my lab partner's inventions. Thank you." Cindy jabs at the end with a smirk as the class claps, while Jimmy was giving was giving her a tense glare as he clenched his hands into tight fists.

"Look who's talking, _Vortex._ I did as much if not more than you on this project and you know it!" Jimmy fires back, sounding annoyed, and making the applause die down… and for many of them to roll their eyes.

Cindy looked back at Jimmy, narrowing her eyes, "Oh whatever, Neutron! I swear if…"

"Quiet! Both of you!" Mr. Taylor practically commanded, getting between both of them. "If you both can't be civil, then I'm afraid I'll have to ask you both to sit in the hall… unless you'd rather just go to the principal?" Mr. Taylor gave them a stern look as Jimmy and Cindy both hung their heads and begrudgingly saying almost in unison, "No sir."

They both exchanged a quick glare as they made their way out in the hall with Libby rolling her eyes in annoyance at them for their typical behavior.

Jimmy and Cindy both walked out into the hall and sat down next to each other with their backs against the lockers.

Mr. Taylor closed the door behind them as he let the next group proceed with their presentation.

Jimmy and Cindy both sat looking forward for a second before looking around them to make sure _the coast was clear_ and glancing at each other, a smile slowly appearing on their faces before sliding closer to each other.

Both of them looking proud of the fact that they are able to keep up their ruse in public.

_**Later that day** _

The Neutrons were sitting down to dinner as a family like usual as Hugh and Judy kept casually chatting to each other from across the table.

Much like several nights ago, Jimmy stayed between them in silence but not entirely for the same reason.

Jimmy was casually eating as he kept smiling slightly to himself as he kept glancing down at his phone under the table.

Judy took notice as she corrected, "Jimmy, no technology at the table." Jimmy whipped his head up as he said, "Huh? Oh yeah, sorry mom."

Jimmy quickly put his phone into his pocket as he kept smiling a little to himself as he kept eating.

Judy kept her eyes on her son as she tilted her head and commented, "You seem a lot better lately. Did that problem you had sort itself out?" Jimmy looked to his mom and said, "Oh yeah, it did. Actually I think it more than _sorted itself out._ "

Judy smiled and looked like she was about to say something once she heard and saw the shift at the end of her son's sentence until Hugh started, "Hey that's great Jimmy. Now I don't know about all of you, but who wants pie?!"

Jimmy quickly looked at the clock and his eyes went for a second before he quickly thought and said, "Um, not me. Got a lot of work to do in the lab for tonight and I want to get all of it done before the weekend. Bye!" He quickly walked away right after from the table and straight out the kitchen to his lab.

Judy continued to watch and observe her son as he walked to his lab in haste.

She would have kept watching if her husband didn't step into her line of sight and put a slice of pie in front of her as he said, "It's blueberry, butter biscuit. You're favorite."

Judy just smiled at her husband before saying, "Thanks, hun. Is this Aunt Mo's?"

"You betcha! I stopped off on my way back from work and the smell was just calling me, I'll tell ya! Now let's dig in." Hugh said in excitement as he sat back down with his plate and start savoring his first bite of pie.

**(Jimmy's POV)**

Since Cindy said she had a violin lesson and she didn't know when she'd be able to come over tonight exactly, I just left the transporter online so she could come in whenever she wanted.

Besides, it's giving me a good opportunity to get some work done.

Nothing for school but just projects that I already finished meant that I have time to complete inventions to get me invited back to the Nobel Prize and World Fair related events coming up. Then maybe I can finally have something good enough to show all the other scientists that I have more credibility than they actually give me credit for.

Since apparently coming up with a prototype conceptual invention of converting salt water into fresh drinking water efficiently wasn't _good enough_ for them.

Sure it was only a prototype and on a small scale, but at least my invention had some use and could benefit societies around the world and wasn't just some quantum physics concept on a piece of paper.

Look I love quantum physics, but it's kind of like the running joke of the scientific community at the moment with whether or not it has any usefulness. And yet those said physicists were the ones who gained that recognition instead. But, it only pushes me to want to try harder to gain that respect and recognition for my hard work.

I was so engrossed in my own thoughts that I barely noticed a casual and _very_ recently familiar, "Hey."

I glanced behind me and saw Cindy leaning in the doorway of my lab. I smiled on reflex as I said, "Oh, hey... Actually you're just in time. I'd like a second opinion on something."

" _Wow_ , you mean I'm _actually_ being included in one of your experiments as a second opinion?" Cindy jokes, sounding very sarcastic even though I know she was just messing with me now.

Also, I can't pretend she wasn't justified in pointing that out. Actually if 10 or 11 year old me would have just heard me say that I wanted to include Cindy in one of my experiments like this, then he would have told me I was completely insane as he'd grab me by my shirt collar and shake me to get me to snap out of it.

But looking back on it, I really was ridiculous about never really including Cindy in things like this.

I put my hands up in defense as I said, "Hey, in my defense, I was 11 at most and wasn't as _versed_ like I am now. Besides, honestly, I'd trust you more with my lab than Carl or Sheen these days especially."

Cindy gave me a slight smile as she walked closer and said, "Well that's reassuring to know. So James, show me what you got." She even grabbed a pair of lab goggles I left on one of the counters and walked over.

I smiled a little as I put goggles on and showed her my _latest_ experiment.

_**2 hours later** _

Honestly, when I still think back to Cindy and I constantly arguing for mainly no reason at all… why?

This was probably one of my favorite nights in the lab in a while. I was actually able to have a pretty intelligent conversation on my experiments with someone who actually understands what I'm talking about and I was able to make enough progress to actually take a break for the rest of the night.

And Cindy still had time before she had to go home, so I decided to put a movie in and set up the lab so we could relax… also the fact that we're making out on the couch I set up… I'm not complaining _at all._

Especially since Cindy was the one who started it.

Sure maybe I might be overreacting since _this_ is not exactly _something new._

Actually it really isn't since this has just kind become almost _routine_ at this point. But, at school we still try to keep our _relationship_ more out of sight than normal. We actually had a close call when we were holding hands and talking in the hallway outside of Mr. Taylor's class when Butch almost caught us when he was kicked out of his class to go to the principal's office.

But… that's nothing new since Butch was usually always in Mr. Willoughby's practically daily in elementary school.

Anyway, after Cindy gave me her opinions on some of my inventions and got the movie going… it didn't take long for us to _fall into_ something like this. Although usually it involved us doing homework before we _started_.

But, to be fair, it's not that we necessarily _distract each other_ , but… I don't know?

It's just hard to explain.

Ugh, why am I even trying to explain with what's happening right now?! Even though maybe I should be since Cindy was pretty much holding me down against the couch as we were making out right now… but again, who cares?

Especially since I was even letting her do it and almost helping her.

Even though most of the time I still don't feel like I totally know what I'm doing. Yeah, I'm a genius with an impressively and seemingly impossible IQ, but… girls and stuff like this is still not one of my strong suits.

Usually I just feel like I'm almost on pure instinct when we're like this since my brain just feels like its shutting down and physicality just takes over everything I'm doing.

I kept running my hands up and down her back as I heard her let out a sigh as I felt her run her hands down my torso until she got to the hem of my t-shirt and work her hands under it, making my whole back tense up and my eyes roll toward the back of my head.

_Whoa…_

I reached down for the hem of my shirt and tried to sit up to take it off when… "HEY BIG BROTHER!"

Cindy jumped and fell off me and the couch onto the floor and I just felt everything inside me tense up as I looked at the screen.

Although a bit more rustic now, was something I haven't paid attention in years and usually tried to ignore at all costs.

"BR- BROBOT?! How did you gain access to my network?!" I shouted, feeling totally uncomfortable, embarrassed, and awkward; especially since he happened to interrupt _what was happening_ between me and Cindy.

_Ugh, why?!..._

Not to mention I cut the communication line to the moon years ago.

But, after brobot tricked Carl, Sheen, and I in the famous _Mooney Men incident_ and got all of us kidnapped by the Junk Man and nearly destroyed us all… can you blame me?!

"Well, the wires were broken so I fixed them! Pretty cool, right Jimmy? Now I can see you! Can you see me?! Well, yeah, you probably can... You look funny. Why're you tall and stretched out?! You're hair looks weird. Why is your hair messed up?" He spouted almost endlessly in the painful way I still remember and tried to repress deep in my subconscious.

Not that I still have repressed animosity about it… okay that's kind of a lie since the whole reason I cut off communication was because he wouldn't stop calling me. Like every 5 minutes he would call me and asking the same questions every time and kept me from doing my work.

But… I know this is my fault.

I created him and I didn't have it in me to shut him off when I was 11 and honestly… I still can't now.

I put my face into my hands as I groaned, " _Brobot, jus…"_ All of a sudden my heart rate dropped off as Brobot cut in with, "Ooooooohhhhhh, there's a girl in your lab! You gotta girlfriend! You gotta girl…"

"STOOOOOOOPPPPPP!" I yelled involuntarily out of panic as I practically dove across the room and threw the main power switch to cut off what was happening… ugh, and in front of Cindy.

And yeah, I know this happened when I was a kid… but this was _way_ more embarrassing… like a thousand times more embarrassing since me and Cindy are actually kind of sort of a couple now.

My hands were still on the wall and I felt myself just involuntarily and lightly hitting my forehead against, still completely embarrassed about what just happened.

That and my face felt like it was burning so I also don't want to turn around and have Cindy looking at me like this. I was still pretty much staring into the corner just so Cindy wouldn't look at me being this pathetic.

All of a sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder as I slowly looked over and saw Cindy, although it wasn't what I was expecting.

Even though I don't know what I was exactly anticipating her to do with _how things are_ now.

Typically she always almost relished in my embarrassment back in elementary school and before, but… that's not what I was seeing.

She was actually looking kind of… _sympathetic_?

Or at least some kind of feeling like it rather than ridicule like I was previously used to.

Neither of us were saying anything as I finally said, sounding paralyzingly awkward and had no idea what else to say, "Uh… sorry…."

_**3 minutes later** _

**({No POV})**

Jimmy and Cindy both walked out of the club house and each one looked over their shoulders to make sure no one was watching as the complete silence around them.

"So you still can't shut him off?" Cindy asked, since Jimmy practically gave her the _run through_ of the Brobot situation since he invented him to now.

Jimmy shook his head scratched the back of neck as he confirmed, "Nope… I know! It's kinda pathetic. He's just a artificial intelligence based robot but… I just couldn't do it. I _still_ can't do it. It's just... complicated. Because I don't want to, but he just won't stop bothering me and interrupting what little time I have to invent during the week after school and leaves me no choice but to cut off communication from his end. That was why I invented robotic parents for him so he wouldn't bother me and… it's just frustrating. I'm still sorry, _really_ sorry about _what just happened._ "

There was a brief pause of silence and all that could be heard was the subtle sound of a car a block away.

Then much to Jimmy's surprise; however, he saw a corner of Cindy's mouth curl up into a half smile as she said, "It's okay. I'm free tomorrow night? If you want to do something?"

Jimmy had a feeling of internal surprise for a split second, still completely forgetting that the Cindy Vortex he was talking to now was still not the one he was used to as a rival his whole life.

In fact, Cindy's actually a really cool person when it was just them.

Jimmy practically mirrored her expression back as he said, "Y-yeah... oh yeah, for sure!"

Cindy bit her lip a little, looking over her shoulder for a brief second to reconfirm that they were alone, as he smirked and put her hands on his shoulders to pull him down to her level for a quick kiss goodnight… Jimmy had other ideas as he put his hands on Cindy's waist and pulled her closer, not quite settling on just a quick kiss goodnight.

As much as Cindy had the thought in the back of her mind that it was a bit risky doing this outside in the Neutron's backyard and the Wheezer's being right next door, a quick glance to find that the windows of all the nearby houses were dark made her feel a bit more comfortable as she smiled a little into the kiss intertwined the fingers on her hands casually around Jimmy's neck to continue on with the current situation.

_**Meanwhile inside the Neutron house** _

Judy and Hugh were both watching a movie together in the den while they waited to see Jimmy come back into the house for the night.

Judy walked away for just a moment to deposit her glass of water she was drinking into the kitchen sink when she looked out the window for a moment… and a moment was all it took to have her eyes glued in a _certain_ direction at a _particular_ pair of individuals having a moment in the backyard.

Judy's eyes went wide as she saw her son kissing Cindy Vortex outside the clubhouse door in near disbelief for a moment before she called back, while still trying to keep her voice down, " _Hugh!..._ Hugh, come in here."

Hugh slowly made his way into the kitchen as he said, totally oblivious to what was going on, "What's going on here, sugar booger?" "Shh… honey look outside." Judy said, trying to have her husband keep his voice down.

Hugh looked out the window, squinting before his eyes went wide open as he thought out loud, and probably also too loudly, "Is that Jim-Jam outside with the Vortex's daughter from across the street?"

Judy hushed him, her expression now morphing into a smile as she said, "Hugh, stop, they might hear you. You know, somehow I always kind of knew."

"Should we wait?" Hugh asked, also intrigued about their latest _discovery_. "No, no. Let's leave them alone and let Jimmy come in to sleep. Then we'll ask him about it in the morning." Judy said, still kind of excited in some way about the revelation that her son has a girlfriend.

Hugh winked as he said, "Good idea, then we can ambush him at breakfast like my parents did to me when I got my first girlfriend!"

"Um Hugh… wasn't that just your prom date from high school that just went with you as friends?" Judy clarified, remembering a different version of that story.

"Yeah, but they didn't need to know that." Hugh countered playfully before walking out of the room.

Judy just smiled to herself and rolled her eyes as she said slightly under her breath, " _Oh Hugh…"_

She was just about to follow Hugh out of the room, but not before she looked back one more time at Jimmy and Cindy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I deeply apologize for making all of you wait this long for an update. But with work and life, I don't have as much time to write as I used to. I want to change that though and try to make my updates on this fanfic especially more regular. I hope you all enjoyed Jimmy and Cindy keeping up their ruse in public all the way down to the embarrassing Brobot situation and Jimmy's conflicted feelings about it all around. But, now that Judy and Hugh know that Jimmy and Cindy are a little more than just a rivalry… well, you'll just have to wait and see. Haha. ;) Anyway, thank you all so much again for your time and patience and constructive reviews are always appreciated. And on top of that I just love open communication with my readers.
> 
> Have a safe and lovely weekend!
> 
> Dexter1995


	14. Had

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? Sure its a month later but I kept my promise! Haha. This chapter picks up right after the previous chapter. Enjoy!

**(Jimmy's POV)**

I just walked downstairs for breakfast and sat down in my usual spot next to dad reading the paper when I heard, "Good morning sweetie! I made your favorite breakfast. Buttermilk belgian waffles with maple syrup filled dimples and a single pat of butter."

She put it down in front of me and immediately filled up an empty glass in front of me with orange juice and put a bowl of strawberries right next to it.

I glanced down and slowly glanced up.

Ever since I was 12, I made my own breakfast usually during the week. I mean, my mom would make big breakfasts on the weekends but for a week day since she started volunteering a lot during the week when I got older and had more time… _okay?_

I glanced up at my mom and saw her just standing there smiling at me.

And not to completely over exaggerate, but this was kind of scaring me a little. Well, again, maybe not that, but this _very_ suspicious.

And the fact that I now saw dad looking at me kind of similarly… _ugh, what are they going to say?_

The only time they do stuff like this on a week day is when something is going to happen like I'm going to have to do something I really don't like or want to hear.

Last time this happened, I had to spend an entire day with cousin Gomer while my parents had to take cousin Anabelle to try another psychiatrist since the one she had before _said hello to her wrong_ apparently?

So since Gomer is her brother and neither of them ever settled down, for very _obvious reasons_ just because they're well… _them_ , they both live together and my parents said it would be nice if I took the opportunity to spend time with him while they went with cousin Anabelle.

So I did, mainly because I also knew I was 15 and didn't necessarily have a choice. But, even I always try to tell myself that cousin Gomer can't help how he acts since he used to be in the military and suffered severe mental trauma in battle that he never fully recovered from.

And it also makes me feel bad that I didn't fully understand that until I was older and was mostly convinced that he was just stupid when I was little still makes me feel pretty bad.

But when half your day consists of your first cousin once removed repeatedly trying to eat one of your inventions because _it looks tasty and colorful_ … yeah, that was a very trying day. I knew mom and dad really appreciated it though, especially dad.

Anyway, I was bracing myself for it as I kept looking between them.

Neither of them were saying anything though which was very perplexing, almost like they were expecting _me_ to say something. Eventually I decided to skeptically look at my mom as I cut off a piece of the waffles of my plate and took a bite.

Sure they were delicious but that wasn't the point! Why are they staring?! My mom nudged my strawberries closer as she asked, "So… is there anything you'd like to tell us about?"

I tilted my head, slowly chewing as I got out a, "Huh?"

"Oh I see, Jimbo. You're just shy to admit this kind of thing to your mother and I, huh? I gotcha!" My dad said with a wink, making me even more confused about what exactly was happening right now and my mom definitely wasn't helping when she added, "Jimmy, it's okay to tell us about it. Last night I even said how I always kind of knew."

I swallowed what I was chewing on before saying, knowing I sounded completely disconcerted, "Whatever it is? It's absolutely false and I didn't do it."

Then both of them just laughed as I proceeded to look between them almost frantically.

 _Holy Heisenberg!_ _What's even happening right now?!_

I think my parents finally saw how confused I was as my mom said, "Oh sorry Jimmy. We didn't mean to do that. Your father and I just want to let you know we support you and we're very happy for you. This sort of thing is always really exciting at your age."

"What?" I asked, still skeptical as I blindly took another bite.

"Well, last night we saw you looking _pretty_ close with the Vortex girl across the street." Dad blurted out and I immediately started choking on the bite I was currently working on as my eyes went wide.

"Hugh!" I heard my mom yell as she started patting me on the back.

But, choking was almost on the back burning of my mind for a second.

Finally I think dad gave me a hard smack on the back and I managed to stop choking as I heard him say kind of loudly next to my ear, "Don't worry son! I can help!"

Even though I still felt like I was in a fight or flight response for a _completely_ different reason as it just kept repeating in my head.

_We saw you looking pretty close with the Vortex girl across the street… with the Vortex girl… Vortex… Vortex…_

At that moment I felt everything in my body clench as my mouth fell open.

My parents we both staring at me and slowly started smiling once they saw I was okay. But to be honest, looking at the situation, I know that I'm not going to get out of this.

_No..._

_**10 minutes** _

**(Cindy's POV)**

Okay, I like being on the debate team… mainly because I'm finally captain this year.

And I think _like_ even doesn't come close.

I _love_ being debate team captain and finally having the ability to get everything organized so we can finally take conference since Heidi Kenzer had full control last year and was about as organized as Sheen preparing for a test, which drove me insane about her.

But, I got practice topics all lined up and I am ready to… I stopped short in my room as I heard my phone go off in my messenger bag.

At first I thought it was probably going to be Libby or Brittany, but… wait, Jimmy?

Or James. Honestly, still trying to get used to that.

I opened up the text and saw something equally weird and almost sounding cryptic:

* * *

_Uh, can you come over to the lab really quick… to talk? I can use the atomizer to teleport you over. Just let me know._

* * *

I stared at that for a few seconds as I looked at the time before replying:

* * *

_Um… sure._

* * *

I wanted to make sure I got my confusion across in the text, but I didn't have any time as I immediately felt the atomizer target me with the same flash of light I remembered from the last time this happened.

After a second I shook off the slightly disoriented feeling, which probably would've completely annoyed me under different circumstances… but, how can I? This is at least a way we can meet up without anyone noticing. A plus about dating a genius.

Speaking of which, I saw Jimmy sitting in his usual lab control chair as I started, "So, what's going on? I have debate… hey, is… everything okay?"

I switched off pretty quick when I noticed Jimmy just get up but still tried to avoid looking at me as he put a hand over his mouth and start pacing nervously.

"Um… hello? Earth to James Neutron… what is happening here?! Or did you just teleport me here to watch you ominously pace in silence?" I said, knowing I sounded irritated.

Which… yeah I am!

I told him yesterday we could do whatever tonight, but I had practice to go to this morning! So what was so important that he had to do this now?!

After another minute, he finally stopped pacing and still wasn't saying anything. At this point I was so ready to roll my eyes and walk out when I heard, sounding like he was talking tentatively through his hand, "My parents know."

I quirked up an eyebrow as I started, not understanding for a split second, "What are you… wait… they what?"

I felt this wave of horror mixed with tension engulf my insides, almost making me feel nauseous.

"But, how did they even… find out?" I said, more to myself than him.

But, Jimmy just decided to answer me anyway, even though once he said it it seemed so obvious I wanted to kick myself, "They saw us last night… in front of the club house."

I saw Jimmy bite his lip looking nervous. All of a sudden everything hit me like a truck as I remembered last night.

_Ugh, why didn't I trust my instincts?!_

_We took a huge risk kissing outside in the middle of the Neutron's backyard… ugh, I'm such a moron! Why didn't I try to stop it last night and try to make the whole thing short and sweet._

_I mean… probably because I didn't want to? UGH WHY?!_

"We're so doomed. Now they're probably going to tell everyone until it trickles down into school and we will never hear the end of it." I realized I said that last part out loud accidentally.

But, whatever! I'm freaking out, okay?!

"Oh no! They aren't going to! I mean, unless uh… okay. Not unless uh… um, you are still free tonight, right?" Jimmy asked, looking kind of hesitant and still pretty nervous.

"Um, yeah? But, what does _that_ have to do with _this?_ " I asked, still completely confused. I mean, seriously, what is he even getting at?!

"Well, once my parents found out and asked me about it and trust me I told them we didn't want anyone to know just yet, so my parents told me that they promised not to tell anyone if… if um, well…" He was rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

And at this point, I wasn't nervous… well, kind of. But, I was more intrigued at this point.

"If what?" I asked, almost getting annoyed.

"Well, they said they'd agree not to tell if… if you... came over... for dinner."

I just stood there, still processing what Jimmy just said as my jaw clenched a little out of nerves.

_**Later at school** _

**({No POV})**

Libby was standing at her locker looking through her stuff as Cindy came over to her locker and started doing the exact same thing as Brittany walked up and said, "Hey, sleep over tonight at Nissa's and we're going to setting up for the homecoming after party coming up for us. You in?"

Libby shrugged and said, "Sorry Brit, I'm going out with Sheen tonight."

Brittany smirked and Libby gave her a look, making both of them laugh a bit since they both knew what the other one was thinking at the moment without even saying it.

Eventually Brittany turned her attention to Cindy, who seemed to try not to show much interest in the present topic of conversation, "What about you, Cindy? Amber, Rose, and Tina Sue are already in."

Cindy tried to look casual as she passed off, "I can't. Got a violin recital tonight."

"Wait, didn't you say your recital wasn't until…" Libby started until Cindy cut her off abruptly as she snapped slightly, "Look I just have one tonight, okay?"

Libby defensively put her hands up as she said, "Okay, fine."

After that Cindy picked up her Trigonometry book and walked off to her next class.

Brittany, also looking confused, asked, "So, like… what's her deal?" Libby shrugged and said, "No clue." Brittany shrugged and just walked off to her next class to.

But, Libby took and extra moment looking off in Cindy's direction with a quirked up eyebrow before just shutting her locker and continuing with her day too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for another short chapter everyone. I'll more than make up for it next time with both a J/C and S/L interactions. Either way, thank you so much for taking the time to read and constructive reviews/feedback is very much appreciated.
> 
> Have a lovely weekend all!
> 
> Dexter1995


	15. Progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I apologize again for not updating in a bit; however… I finally got a chapter and its got a little bit of everything. Let's see how everyone fairs. Enjoy!

**({No POV})**

Carl and Sheen were standing out in the school parking lot talking in front of Sheen's van.

Both of them clearly having another one of their bizarre debates. And despite being in their teens… the argument still had about as much maturity as their elementary school ones.

"Carl, for the last time, there is no way that Llama Boy's comics have ever been better than the Ultralord's!" Sheen yelled, clearly frustrated. "Is not! Llama Boy is still way better than… Oh hey, Jim!"

Sheen looked over his shoulder and saw Jimmy climb into his hover car… or at least attempting to.

Jimmy's whole body froze and he looked away to hide his nerves, considering he was trying to leave without being noticed for _obvious reasons_ about what was happening later this evening.

But, he tried to recover as he looked over and tried to say as casually as possible, "Hi guys."

"Hey Jimmy, I'm gonna go get my ears candled at the doctor, wanna watch?" Carl asked, knowing this was practically a twice a year ritual.

Partly since Carl has near chronic ear infections in addition to his other long list of medical problems… and also because he liked having Jimmy and/or Sheen in the room for _moral support._ Even though he doesn't admit to that last part out loud these days since it's embarrassing for him at that point.

Although to be fair, as much as Jimmy and Sheen secretly still knew that, they didn't care or judge Carl for it, even Sheen wasn't that low.

"Yeah, c'mon Jimmy! I'm even going before going out with Libby. And I got it all planned out. We're going to the drive-in and I'm totally gonna make my move." Sheen said, trying to sound as cool as possible.

Even though both Jimmy and Carl know _exactly_ how Sheen really feels about her, considering they know that Sheen sees her as more than just _some girl to make out with in a car at the drive-in_.

And to practically reinforce that point, Carl let out a snort laugh at what he said that made Sheen elbow him in the side with a defensive look on his face as Carl complained, "OW!... Sheen that really hurt."

But before anyone could say anything else, Jimmy cut in with, "Ah, sorry guys. I need to go home, to the lab, a lot of work to do… Bye!"

Jimmy then jumped into the hover car and speed off as fast as he could in the parking lot to avoid being asked anymore questions, considering he realized he was slipping up big time.

Carl and Sheen just watched on confused. There was a short pause as Sheen rubbed the back of his neck before commenting, "Is it just me… or has Jimmy been acting _really_ weird?"

Carl opened his mouth when the reminder on his phone went off regarding his appointment. "C'mon Carl, I'll drive… if you admit Ultra Lord is better?" Sheen taunts.

"Sheen!" Carl said, clearly not in the mood since he knew his appointment had arrived.

"Okay, fine!... You're lucky you're like a brother to me." Sheen said as both of them climbed into the van.

_**2 hours later** _

**(Cindy's POV)**

I kept looking at myself in the mirror for practically the 500th time… even though I haven't done anything!

I don't know what to do?!

But, again, I brought this all on myself. I just HAD to kiss Jimmy outside and let it happen long enough for us to get caught by his parents.

And… now they're _blackmailing_ us?

Well, maybe not completely blackmailing since all they want is for me to come over and have dinner with them and that's not really something that's considered _blackmail_ to me if that's all they want.

But that was surprisingly the least of my problems, even though I knew Sheen and Libby weren't going to see and Jimmy told me Carl wouldn't see since late at night on Friday's is only the time Carl and Elke can talk from where she lives in Sweden. And as much as I hate to admit I agree with Sheen on anything… Carl and Elke's relationship is something I still don't understand at all and nor do I really even want to think about it that much.

And all my other friends were across town having a sleepover so I knew we shouldn't have a problem there either… SO WHY AM I STILL FREAKING OUT ABOUT JUST GOING ACROSS THE STREET?!

Even my parents know! And honestly that wasn't as painful or terrifyingly embarrassing as I was picturing it would be. Well I especially had to tell my mom at a bare minimum.

Mrs. Neutron and my mom are in the same book club and pretending like they both aren't secretly going to _kind of know_ is idiocy.

But, it went surprisingly okay.

I mean, both my parents looked a little _interested_ why I was all of a sudden having dinner at the Neutron's… but they really didn't seem to have any real reaction or start probing me for information.

And I'm NOT going to question it!

And that's just only half the reason why I'm losing it now.

Sure technically Jimmy and I are dating, but I'm not sure we're _exactly_ boyfriend-girlfriend… at least I don't think? But, whatever, point is I have no clue what I'm doing right now? I've never had dinner with a guy's parents before! Yeah, I had a date _here and there_ with only a couple different guys, one of which I really wish I never went out at all with _considering,..._ but again those were just one time dates with like 3 different guys that all collectively weren't _anything to brag about_.

Just a movie or grabbing something to eat kind of things. But… Jimmy is the closest I've ever gotten to being in an _actual_ relationship with a guy like that.

I have no idea what the _etiquette_ was for stuff like this? Do I need to _dress up_ or bring _something_?

I know it's probably pretty casual and Mr. And Mrs. Neutron know me since I've literally lived across the street forever but… why do I still want to make a good impression for some weird reason?

So, I just stayed in my capri pants from school and just switched out my shirt for this sleeveless pink blouse I had in the back of my closet.

I just kept staring at myself until I finally decided to say screw it as I grabbed my messenger bag and felt like I was practically skipping stairs since I was going down so fast.

"Are you going to the Neutron's?" I whipped my head over and saw my dad sitting in the living room reading the paper like he always does after work and my mom sitting across the room doing something on her phone, probably for work.

My fingers clutched my messenger bag on reflex, both of them giving me that _curiously intrigued_ look as I passed off, trying to keep it casual, "Yeah, I'll be back before 10:30 though like usual."

I went to reach for the doorknob as I heard, "Well, say hello to Judy for me. And here, would you mind returning this book she gave me?" My mom said, still giving me the same look as my dad, but didn't say anything else as she held a book out to me.

Even though this really shouldn't even phase me since this was something Jimmy and I did constantly growing up was returning books our mom's lent each other.

And that one bizarre time Jimmy sent that clone that… okay, no, not going back to that memory again and make things weird.

I slowly took it and nodded as I decided to slip outside as fast as possible and tried to not look suspicious walking across the street. But, right when I got to the door and was about to ring the doorbell… I stopped.

For almost an entire minute I kept just looking at it and wondering if I was totally out of my mind.

Then I just decided to rip off the bandaid and just get it over with.

I could hear the sound of the doorbell just echo through my head and I immediately felt like I was going to chew off my bottom lip.

Then I just saw the door swing open and Mrs. Neutron standing there smiling like usual and saying, "Cindy! So nice to see you! Dinner should be ready in 15 minutes so I hope you don't mind waiting a little longer to eat. The meatloaf is just taking a little longer than I expected. Jimmy should be coming in from the lab and Hugh should be home from work any minute."

After a moment of feeling like I was swallowing my tongue, I was finally able to force a smile and get out, "H-hi, Mrs. Neutron."

After one more awkward second of silence after stuttering like a total idiot for no reason at all, I realized I was still holding the book and held it out to her as I said, almost straining, "Oh, um… my mom wanted me to give you your book back."

Mrs. Neutron, who luckily was looking at me like I wasn't acting totally psychotic, just kept smiling as she said, "Oh thank you! I was wondering when she was going to give this back. It was really good and I really want to give it a reread. Come in and make yourself at home. I'll be right back."

Once Mrs. Neutron left, and after I decided to stop awkwardly standing there, I decided to walk over to the shelf where I saw pictures just to make it seem like I was doing something normal. Also… this is really the first time I paid attention and really looked around the Neutron's house.

Yeah, I was here for that insane house party back in elementary school and then when Jimmy and I switched bodies… and Jimmy and I swore to never talk about or bring that up ever again, but I never really paid attention to anything when I was here before.

There was this shelf full of pictures, plus random duck decoys that I somehow remember. Then again Mr. Neutron has always been completely obsessed with ducks since the Neutron's front yard has to have at least one lawn duck on it at all times.

But, there were just… normal pictures.

A lot of baby and toddler pictures of Jimmy that I know would probably make him jump out a window if he saw me looking at them right now.

As I kept looking though, I saw a lot more family pictures and other people who were probably extended family? The only one I recognized was Granny Neutron since I met her before, under totally bizarre _circumstances_.

Then I got to a picture that looked like it was from Mr. and Mrs. Neutron's wedding with two older couples standing on either side of them.

But, after I saw Granny Neutron with an older man next to Mr. Neutron, I knew this was them with their parents.

There were more family photos and… ugh.

Honestly, as much as I hate to admit it… I think another reason I was always mean to Jimmy was because I was… jealous.

Not like a stupid kind of jealous like _just_ him being smarter than me a lot of the time at school, but… like I was just jealous of him in general with his parents.

Like you can tell Mr. and Mrs. Neutron _really_ love Jimmy unconditionally and they probably would love him and be proud of him even if he wasn't a genius.

I mean, it's not like I'm saying my parents don't love me, but… my parents always just expected nothing less than excellence from me and always have pushed me to do more and more and to keep excelling at everything more and more to the point where I feel like I'm going crazy sometimes even if I show everyone I like it when sometimes I'm overwhelmed.

But Jimmy, he could've been just an average kid and his parents would still probably treat him and look at him exactly the same now and be proud of him for just being himself.

I will never and I mean _never_ admit this out loud ever to anyone but… I still am jealous of him because of that.

I decided to let myself get away from that spiral as I kept going down the line until I saw something _freaky…_ and I mean it when I say freaky.

There was this old looking black and white picture of a younger man, probably no more than 18 or 19, dressed in a world war two style army uniform. He was smiling as he was sitting on a fallen tree seemingly in the middle of nowhere with his hands in his pockets… and he looked just like Jimmy.

And I mean practically _exactly_ like Jimmy, even though I knew it couldn't be Jimmy since the picture looked _very_ old.

"Oh I see you found grandpa Neutron's army picture. That's one of my favorite pictures of my father-in-law." After having a micro-heart attack for a second since Mrs. Neutron came out of nowhere, I finally looked back at the picture with a different kind of shock.

_Oh… so this was Jimmy's grandpa Neutron._

I decided to stop being weird and make conversation as I asked, "So this is Mr. Neutron's dad?"

Mrs. Neutron nodded and smiled as she said, "That's right. This is James Hubert Neutron, but he always insisted I called him _dad_ or _Jim_ even before Mr. Neutron and I got married." She let out a laugh to herself, probably at the memory.

My eyes went wide as I tilted my head when I heard that on realization.

And even though it was obvious, I said out loud, "James as in _Jimmy_?"

"Absolutely! Actually Jimmy was named after both of his grandfathers. My father's name was Isaac and originally that's what we were going to name Jimmy. Unfortunately both of my parents passed away pretty soon after Hugh and I got married, they had me later in life so they were older once we got married. My dad died 2 months after the wedding and I think the _grief_ and stress of him being gone really got to my mom since she ended up passing a couple months later. But fortunately my in-laws were very accepting and really did become great parent figures to me after all that. Then when Mr. Neutron and I were about to have Jimmy when 9 days before he was born… Jimmy's grandpa Neutron passed away suddenly. And then Jimmy was born soon after that and we were set on naming him Isaac but… then we just decided to name him James instead. It just felt right at the time and little did anyone know that Jimmy would look exactly like his namesake. Not that he isn't anything like his other grandfather. Both of my parents were teachers, but not _quite_ geniuses. Although my dad was a high school physics teacher so that could explain Jimmy's early interest in the sciences." Mrs. Neutron explained as I saw her smiling back at the picture.

We were quiet for a bit before I asked, still looking at the picture of Jimmy's grandpa Neutron and the _completely_ uncanny resemblance, "Was Jimmy anything like his grandpa Neutron?"

"Well… in some ways. Jimmy's always been a very happy child and he still is now. But, really my father-in-law and my husband are _very_ similar. If you know Mr. Neutron, then you know his father. A happy man with a big heart… and also two left feet. Jimmy's granny Neutron always told me her husband may have been a soldier but he was not made for the army since he barely passed basic training and _couldn't hit the broad side of a barn to save his life_ , for well... _obvious reasons_ and ended up being a permanent army cook. But, that definitely seemed true to me." I saw her laugh a little as she said, "Oh! And look at this! This was Jimmy on his first birthday. He was such a cute baby."

She showed me the picture of Mr. Neutron trying to feed Jimmy mashed up cake in a high chair right as I heard, "Hey mom. Is…"

I looked over and saw Jimmy in the doorway. He kept staring at us and I just kept staring right back at him until I saw him look like he was going to pass out as he up and ripped the baby picture out of his mom's hand, looking embarrassed to the nth degree like anyone would if their parents were showing anyone their baby pictures.

Cuz honestly… I probably would've done the exact same thing if anyone was showing _anyone_ my baby pictures.

Even though I didn't think there was anything _that_ embarrassing about the picture Jimmy just ripped out and put behind his back.

Then again it also wasn't a picture of me.

" _Mom…"_ Jimmy said, putting his lips together _tight_ and kept looking extremely embarrassed with the side glances I kept getting.

Then out of nowhere before anyone else could say anything, Mr. Neutron clearly slammed a door somewhere else in the house and yell, "Oh butter biscuit! Jim Jam! Where is everybody?! I brought home an apple pie from… Ohp!"

After that we heard a loud _clunk_ like a chair hitting the floor, followed by what sounded like Mr. Neutron hitting the floor.

After a brief pause and both Jimmy and his mom both cringed on reflex before Mrs. Neutron called out, "Hugh, are you okay?!"

"I'm okay, honey! Plus I saved the pie! Well, er… most of the pie? Either way we have pie!" I glanced over at Jimmy. He was looking at me and gritting his teeth a little bit, looking embarrassed.

But, I didn't know why?

I've seen Mr. Neutron trip when he's just pulling weeds out of their lawn and there's nothing even around to make sense for him to trip over.

And when I was a kid I probably would've laughed, but now for many different reasons… I didn't care?

If anything since I got in the house everything was going better than I anticipated.

Sure in the past I teased Jimmy over his family, specifically his dad which still makes me feel guilty for being that immature to this day, but the Neutron's have always been very nice people and right now I just hope I can pretty much start with a clean slate.

_**Across town; 2 hours later** _

**(Sheen's POV)**

Okay… this is… pretty cool.

Yeah, we went out to the movies but this was kinda a _whole_ different thing. Pretty much everyone from school was here at the drive-in.

Heck man, I spent pretty much every night during the summer here sweating my butt off after work. I'd just grab a slushie and sit on the hood of the van until mosquitoes would start eating me alive. But, the drive-in is cool and I thought this would be a cool spot to go out, and so did pretty much the entire school since everyone and their mother was here.

Man, even Bolbi's here! Yeah, he's in a dumpster now since Butch just threw him in there, but hey… he's still here!

Then again it's also free snow cone night so… hey, I get it. I once did a burger eating contest at McSpanky's just for a free t-shirt and then I also didn't leave the bathroom for a full day after that, no joke.

My dad even asked me if I needed my grandma's special laxative formula her family's been using since her great-great-great uh somebody back in Mexico?

But no way!

I like a lot of my family's weird cure mumbo jumbo but man that laxative stuff isn't even funny.

The movie was already going, just a Jet Fusion rerun but still good. I didn't even care about that. I cleared a whole pile of junk and tools out of the back and put a crap ton of pillows and some sleeping bags back there so we'd have a place to chill.

All I had to do was put the backrests down on the bucket seats in front and we could see the screen. But, again, who cares about the movie! I kept looking down a little at Libby snuggled up next to me looking like she was still watching.

Man… this is sweet!

Yeah, it's probably stupid why I think this is cool since all we're doing is watching a movie we've seen a thousand times, even though I've literally met the guy in person SO many times, and just pretty much cuddling right now.

But, I don't care! Heck I'm not even complaining! This is awesome!

We both just kept hanging out until I heard her say out of nowhere, "Hey Sheen, I know you're working for your dad, but… are you still going to college?"

Since I already knew I just said, "Nah, I'm not going. I have no idea what I really wanna do anyway and I hate school so what's the point? Like you said, I'm pretty much my dad's _apprentice-thing_ at this point and my dad makes good money doing HVAC stuff and I get along with my dad so might as well. Besides, even if I did go to college and got some desk job that I'd hate working for _the man_ , so… no way. Why, what's up?"

She just shrugged and said, "Just askin'. I mean, I know I'm going to go. Not to any crazy expensive Ivy League school like Cindy wants to since that's _her thing_. But, ya know, I'd like to go to school for fashion design, maybe start at Retroville College and transfer? I don't know? All Cindy's been doing is freaking out over her SAT's and scholarship applications since, _that's her_. But, it just got me thinking about what I'm doing after high school. Yeah, there's still next year, but still."

I gave her a look as I said, "Really? I thought you were set on music and stuff?"

She shrugged again and said, "Yeah, I was but I just realized there's more to learn in fashion that I want to know. I mean, I still love music but… I just want to do more. Ya know?"

"Hey you got that sketchbook full of stuff. You could totally cut it. Trust me." I said, not even thinking about it.

But, its true. Libby can play 5 different instruments, sing, dance, and sew like no ones business.

Honestly, and not that I'm complaining, but I still think its crazy why she's even into me at all, especially after she kissed me that last time we went out.

Compared to her I've got no idea what I'm really even good at?

Other than making that Ultralord website when I was 10, starting the official Ultralord fan club and being the president since I was 11… dude, I feel like I'm not good at anything that I know of. I'm not that great at sports, I've never been good at school… _ever_ , and besides Ultralord and videogames I'm not really into a lot of other stuff?

But, hey, at least my dad's teaching me HVAC stuff and I'm actually pretty good at it now.

Eh, whatever.

I hardly realized that she was looking at me and smiling as she said, "Thanks."

I smiled back, trying to play it cool, "Yeah, no problem Libs." I saw her roll her eyes and snort out a laugh. "Hey c'mon." I said and we both started laughing.

We both stopped and I just looked at her. I started sweating when she just kept looking at me. We just kept looking at each other, trying to figure out what the heck I was doing.

_Should I do it? Does she want me to?_

_Uh…. eh, man, screw the movie._

I just leaned in a little bit until I felt her pretty much meeting me halfway.

**(Libby's POV)**

_FINALLY!_ I never thought he was gonna make a move!

Even though he was making it totally obvious with the _whole setup_ in the back of the van, but… whatever? I knew we weren't going _just to watch a movie_.

And not that I fully knew what to do either right now, but… I could tell Sheen had no clue what he was doing. Actually, he seemed pretty _nervous_ , which was pretty weird seeing this from Sheen.

But, to me… it was sweet.

I was trying to _take the lead_ a little as I put one of my hands on the back of his head and tried to give him a hint as I put my other hand on his chest, even though it weirdly got to me since I just felt his heart pounding. We kept kissing as I felt his hand, which seemed like it was shaking a little go to my side and back as he pulled me closer and we kept pretty much making out in the van until totally out of nowhere I heard a totally familiar cool-dry tone say, "Hey, look who's getting some action."

We both stopped and looked right at the driver's side window and saw Nick and Wendall standing there and laughing.

"Nick! Are you kidding me? Get out!" I snapped on reflex. But, look, I really don't like Nick. Yeah, like everyone else I had a crush on him and… even made out with him a little once at a party Freshman year.

But, that was it!

Everyone knows Nick's a self-absorbed jerk now more than ever and I was _done_ with whatever he was playing right now.

"What? I just can't believe _Ultra-dork_ is getting any action at all. Especially with you." Nick said sticking his head into the car as Wendall was just standing behind him laughing like he's done since the 2nd grade.

_Okay… this boy…_

Then I saw a piece of _something_ , I couldn't tell since it was dark, being thrown as I saw Sheen sitting up and looking just as _done_ as I was.

"Dude!" Nick said, ducking out of the way as Sheen just yelled, "Hey! You wanna go at Libs, you gotta go through me!"

" _Yeah_ whatever dude." Then I realized Sheen probably threw his right shoe that first time since I saw it was gone as he took off his left shoe also threw it at Nick.

Then it ended up hitting Nick and falling back into the car and Nick and Wendall just ran as SHEEN yelled, "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" He started climbing forward in the car and grabbed his shoe as he stuck his head out the window and yelled, making me flinch, "COME AT ME, PRETTY BOY!... AND YOU STILL OWE ME FIVE BUCKS!"

Okay, is Sheen still _a lot_?

Well, yeah.

But, I also have total respect for it. I mean, he stuck up for me in his own _weird way_.

But, doesn't mean I didn't appreciate it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, even though this literally took me so long with work, life, and other hobbies… I finally finished! Haha. But, seriously I enjoyed writing this so much and there is SO much more to come just you wait. Events, interactions, new character additions… and more! For this chapter, I just wanted to explain a few points. To start with, I always just pictured Nick Dean as the type of guy who just had his ego fueled his whole life that eventually just let it completely get to his head by his teens to just become a jerk. He's not evil but he's just a self-absorbed jerk who thinks he can use his looks to get away with anything. Then with the Neutron's, I was always interested in Judy's extended family since they never mentioned anything and even for the Neutron's we never met Jimmy's grandpa Neutron. So, I decided to invent my own back story for each! Since Judy always seemed like a relatively intelligent person I just saw her as a product of parents who were quite intelligent themselves, perhaps teachers? Then for Grandpa Neutron, I thought it would explain more about where Hugh Neutron got his mannerisms and personality since let's face it. Hugh looks like he resembles his mother, but he sure acts nothing like her! Haha. Either way I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading just as much as I enjoyed writing this!
> 
> Have a lovely day and stay classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	16. Outed, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well… hi! Long time no see? Haha. I am so sorry to all of you who have been patiently waiting on an update for this fic. I truly am very sorry! :( Between my promotion at work, writer's block/burnout, other projects, and now being busier than ever as a healthcare professional during the pandemic… trying to write has been very, very difficult and especially for this fic for some reason. But, I am back and hope that another burnout doesn't decide to curse me again with writing this fic. So, here's the continuation! This chapter begins the morning before the big homecoming dance for the gang… or maybe not? Hope you all enjoy it!

**(Libby's POV)**

I finally turned the corner onto Sheen's street.

Right after getting back from my cousin's birthday party, I had no idea what was going on when he sent me a text saying I had to come over to his house RIGHT NOW.

Even though I kind of had a feeling what was happening…

I got to Sheen's house and saw him just sitting on the front porch of his dad's house. Unlike usual when he'd practically almost run in front of whatever car I was driving to say hi to me and freak me out a little, but he just stood up and gave me a weird half wave.

I parked out front and got out of the car and just walked up.

"H-hey Libs…" He said and started rubbing the back of his neck, acting really weird… well you know, not like Sheen's usual weird.

"Um… Sheen, what's happening? I just got back from my cousin's house this morning so I could get ready for the dance."

We both sat down on front steps before I saw him let out a nervous laugh as he kept rubbing the back of his neck and then saying, "Yeah, about the dance… I kinda got suspended for the next week from school… and the dance."

I clenched my teeth a little, still knowing what was probably coming even though he was acting like I didn't know _what he did_ yesterday.

"Sheen… is this about _what you did_ at the football game last night?" I asked, even though I totally knew.

He gave me this look, almost looking shocked that I knew about it, until he tried to shrug it off and said, "Maybe… Okay, yeah. But, how did you know about it?! I thought you had your cousin's party thing?"

I just gave him a clear ' _are you serious'_ look before holding my phone up to him and just saying while starting the video, "Brittnay."

* * *

_The football team was walking off the field as the color guard was walking on for the Homecoming football game's halftime show routine until all of them scattered as Sheen, or what was clearly Sheen in a ski mask, wearing nothing but his work boots and a pair of boxers as he ran across the football field. He was trying to streak as his ultimate homecoming week prank/stunt. Everyone in the stands started laughing and Sheen looked like he was eating it up as he was getting the reaction he wanted. Unfortunately, the fun was cut short as several teachers and their school security officer didn't let him get too far with what was indecent exposure as Sheen was caught before being escorted off the field by all of them. "Aw man! Buzzkills!"_

* * *

I kept looking at Sheen who looked at the video from the football game.

Although I didn't know why he looked so surprised that I knew, considering I know practically everything about everyone in the school… and having Brittnay being on the cheer squad to help me keep up with the school gossip when I'm not around helps.

I kept giving him a look until he said, "Okay, yeah… but c'mon you gotta admit that was pretty good, right?"

Even though I was kind of mad at him, I was really trying not to let him see that I thought it was kind of funny.

I held it back though as I said, "Sheen… why?"

He gave me a confused look and said, "What do you mean? It was HILARIOUS! Everyone was totally into it! And how was I supposed to know Principal Kent was gonna be such a stiff about it?"

I sighed as I started, "Sheen, seriously? You know Kent isn't a push over like Willoughby? He's a stickler for that kind of stuff."

He didn't say anything until he looked at me and asked, looking guilty, "Are you mad at me?"

I couldn't stop myself from letting out a sigh since I was kind of mad at him, but… what else do I expect?

To me, I know I can't be completely shocked or mad about this since I know what Sheen's like.

Sheen's a really nice and sweet guy, especially to me. But Sheen's also never been good about _thinking things through_ and the fact he got suspended from school and going to the dance because he decided to streak at halftime yesterday in front of the whole school… I'm not surprised.

I just bit my lip before saying, just trying to be straight up with him, "No Sheen… I'm not really that mad. But, I don't know? I'm on the homecoming committee this year and decorating the gym and helping with the music and now you can't go…"

"You can still go." I heard him say.

"Sheen…" "Libby, seriously. It's cool! Just cuz I can't go doesn't mean you can't. Besides, I got a bunch of vintage Ultralord comics to read so I'm good." He cut in, trying to brush it off and not make me feel bad since I still kind of need to go to the dance to make sure everything kicks off right.

I think he could see me still thinking since he just slid closer to me on the steps and said, "Hey, it's cool. I'll be fine. Besides, Jimmy said he wasn't going either since he had _science stuff_ so I was maybe gonna hang out with him if he didn't have anything going on and my dad's out of town doing stuff tonight. I'm cool, seriously. Just go to the dance and kill it, a'right?"

He reached over and put his hand on top of mine that was resting on the steps.

And I couldn't help it as I looked at him and gave him a smile as I said, "Thanks, Sheen. Are sure it's okay? I can..." "Libs, it's a'right babe. No worries." Sheen cut in, put on his _cool act_ … or at least what he thinks is him _playing it cool._

But, I didn't care. I gave him a small smile before I gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Thanks."

I totally looked like I caught him off guard which I still can't help but think is cute when I see him drop his whole _I'm macho and cool act_ that he's pulled since elementary school.

He shook his head after a second as he said, looking like he was trying to get the act up again as he said, getting a flirty look, "No problemo, chica. C'mon, let's go to the Candy Bar. I'm buying."

I just laughed, rolled my eyes, and just grabbed his hand as I said, "Sure, let's go."

**_8 hours later_ **

Honestly… this was going pretty good.

The music was blasting, everyone was dancing, and I managed to find enough to do since Sheen wasn't here.

Everyone was having a good time, but… I don't know? I just wasn't _feeling it_ for some reason.

Sure I always just went to school dances in groups up until now and never had an actual date before now, but I was just so used to having Sheen with me.

Even though his dance moves are always a complete disaster and embarrassed me to my limit… I missed having him here with me.

Even Cindy wasn't here since she said she had to organize everything for her debate team meet on Monday and didn't have time to come to the dance. So… I was just feeling kind of out of it.

I should be having a good time, but… I just couldn't. The dance still had 2 more hours but… ugh.

I looked toward the gym exit that led out to the parking lot. I bit my lip for a second before walking over to Tina Sue who was on the committee with me and serving soda at the refreshment table as I said over the music, "Hey Tina! I gotta go! Do you got this for the rest of the night?"

"Yeah sure! Why? What's going on?" She asked, looking confused about me walking out of any dance/party earlier when I'm always the last to leave.

"Nothing. I just got something else going on." She gave me a confused look before she gave me a sly one and said, messing with me, "Like Sheen?"

I gave her a look and just smacked her on the arm, knowing she was just messing with me like everyone else does about me having a thing for Sheen, as I rolled my eyes and said, "C'mon."

All it took was me fessing up during truth or dare that I had a crush on him at one of Cindy's sleepovers 3 years ago and all they do is mess with me about it, but I know they're just joking… and lowkey judging me a little bit even though I seriously don't care anymore.

We both just laughed as I walked out of the gym and back out to my dad's car.

_**15 minutes later** _

I was about to turn the corner onto Sheen's street when I stopped hard in the middle of the street when I saw Sheen walking on the sidewalk, probably going to Jimmy's.

I could tell he noticed it was me as he ran over to the car and ducked his through the passenger side window before saying, sounding really confused, "I thought you were at the dance?"

I smirked a little and shrugged at him as I just replied, "Eh, I've seen better. Think Jimmy would mind one more?"

Right when I unlocked the door to get in, he smirked back at me before jumping into the car and I turned back to go to Jimmy's.

Hey, maybe I can even drag Cindy out to come with us since she lives across the street.

That girl really needs to chill since she's been even more type A than usual… and that's saying something with Cindy.

We finally got to Cindy and Jimmy's street but Cindy's room was dark and after calling and texting her… nothing.

Her phone even went straight to voicemail when I called her which was very weird.

So, I just left my dad's car in the Vortex's driveway since I know none of them would mind and we just walked across the street to Jimmy's clubhouse.

We kept walking across the street holding hands, which I've just started getting used to but I still couldn't get over it feeling just… nice.

Sheen was actually being pretty quiet until I saw him just looking at me.

I gave him a look as I just asked, "What's up? Is it my hair?"

I did have my hair up for the first time in years and I was still in my dress and heels from the dance so… I don't know? Was it too different?

"Oh, uh. It's just, you know? You look… good. Really good." He said, still trying to play it cool as he rubbed the back of his neck again.

I could feel my face heat up but I just smiled and said, squeezing his hand a little, "Thanks Sheen."

He smiled back at me, until we got to the door of Jimmy's lab when he got totally distracted and ran up it and pressed a button before yelling into the receiver, "Hey Jimmy! You still there?!"

It was quiet for a few seconds and I was just gonna assume Jimmy wasn't there and I was going to ask if he wanted to just go back to his house to hang out when Sheen said, "Alright then."

He reached into the back pocket of this jeans and pulled out a small bag that had… wait, is that... _hair_?

He held it up to the scanner as we heard, "Access granted."

I gave him a weird look for obvious reasons until he just gave me a weird look back as he just said defensively, "What? Jimmy gave me and Carl some of his hair to get in his lab for emergencies."

"Sheen, what in the…" I was cut off when we both fell through the hole and went straight down the tube into the lab.

We both hit the ground. Well, Sheen hit the ground and I ended up landing right on top of him. We were both face to face but we both got up and let out an awkward laugh about it.

It was quiet and I could see Sheen's face go red a little bit and it looked like he was going to say something until both of us heard laughing.

We looked toward Jimmy's lab and heard the laughing again and then I heard a voice, followed by a laugh that sounded familiar, "James…"

_Wait, is that?... Cindy?_

Sheen and I both gave each other equally weirded out looks as we both said simultaneously and totally confused, "James?"

After a few moments we both walked closer to the lab door and heard something going on on the other side of the door.

But, the metal door made it hard to hear until I heard Sheen say, putting a hand on my shoulder, "C'mon."

I looked over and saw him go over to this window next to the lab door.

We both crawled over to it before looking at each other one more time before finally kneeling and looking into the window.

Right when I looked through though, my mouth fell open and my eyes felt like they were gonna fall out in shock at what I was seeing as I heard Sheen say, "No way…"

Through the window, I saw Jimmy and Cindy. Jimmy was leaning against one of the counters in his lab and Cindy was standing right in front of him with her arms wrapped around his neck, but both of them were equally and totally _all over each other_ as they were clearly making out.

Jimmy's arm that wasn't wrapped around her back was higher up with his hand in her hair, that was already down with her hair scrunchie already on the floor.

I was silent as I kept looking for a few more seconds at what was happening until I smiled and said, feeling like I just won the Retroville High School talent show all over again but trying to stay quiet, "Oh, I knew it!"

_C'mon, can you blame me right now?!_

I knew about them having a thing for each other since Ms. Fowl's class but neither of them ever spilled!

_Oh… Cindy is totally gonna get it later._

"Man, I'm gonna make so much money." I heard Sheen say next to me.

I looked over and saw Sheen grinning slyly with his phone out, looking like he was trying to get a picture.

He saw me looking at him as he said, "What?"

"Sheen! Stop it! You're gonna get us caught!" I tried to tell off through my teeth at him as quietly as possible.

Sure I'm a total gossip, but even I wasn't totally down with what he was doing, especially since he was probably gonna get us caught.

Luckily he was still trying to keep it down, well his version of keeping it down as he said, "Libs, c'mon! You know how long I've had that bet going at school and no one is gonna believe anything without proof."

My eyebrows went together as I said, "Sheen, there is no way…" "Libby, seriously. Do you know how many times me and Carl messed with Jimmy about him having a thing for Cindy? And you know Cindy is even worse than Jimmy! Besides, maybe I can buy us tickets to see the bands at Retroville Fall Fest with that money?"

I thought about it for a couple seconds.

Yeah, Cindy was my best friend and this felt kind of low, even for me and especially for Sheen.

As I kept thinking about it though, all I could think about were 2 things. One… ugh, I really want to go to the Retroville Fall Fest! They always have awesome bands there and tickets are really hard to get since people statewide come from all over.

And then… you know what?

Cindy has been teasing me over my crush on Sheen for years and has done nothing but be in denial every time I brought up her thing for Jimmy for YEARS… and she's been lying to me about this going on with Jimmy since I could tell this was probably going on for a while by what I was seeing.

Finally, after really thinking about it, I gave in, "Okay, fine. _One_ picture."

"Yes!" Sheen said, pumping an arm to himself before he lined himself up to take the picture.

But, right after Sheen pressed the button his sound wasn't off on his phone and the snapshot sound came out so loud that it made us both cringe.

_Oh no..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh! Looks like someone's busted! As for which couple is actually in trouble... find out next time! I hope you guys enjoyed Sheen's antics of trying to streak across the football field and Libby, though the party queen we all know she is, realized how much she missed having Sheen with her at a party. :) Anyway, next chapter will be far more involved than this one, I promise! Thank you all so much for reading and reviews are always appreciated.
> 
> Stay classy and safe!
> 
> Dexter1995


	17. Outed, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thank you so much for the warm welcome back to this fanfic guys. I've been having a hard couple weeks and you all have helped make it so much better with you kind words. I'd especially like to thank Fluffy52116 and TheWonderfulShoe for their reviews on the previous chapter. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it! :) Anyway, on with the story!

_**1 hour into the homecoming dance** _

**(Cindy's POV)**

I finally looked out at the street and it looked like everything was clear.

I'd finished my outline way ahead of schedule for the debate team meet for Monday, so I was just waiting for the neighborhood to clear out for the dance tonight.

Yeah, I could've gone since Libby kept trying to talk me into it but… no way.

And I did want to go but even if I did go, what? Have Jimmy and I go together? Yeah, for either of us that's not going to happen unless we never want to hear the end of it.

So, we were just going to hang out in the lab.

Watch a movie or maybe we'll be looking at one of his experiments or just hanging out? Honestly if it wasn't for Jimmy having the lab to give us a _private space_ , I have no idea how we'd be able to pull this off?

Sure his parents know we're together and my parents know to a certain extent, but luckily thanks to that dinner with the Neutrons going well; we don't really have to worry too much about it since they promised they wouldn't say anything.

Also… I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy having dinner with the Neutrons.

Sure aside from Mr. Neutron tripping over a chair in the kitchen, it actually was really nice. My parents always seem to talk about work or ask me questions constantly about how my sports, clubs, lessons, and classes are going that I realized we don't really have normal dinner conversations.

Jimmy's family is a lot more _relaxed_ and they were asking about each other about how their days went and even just asked me questions about _me_ and what I liked to do, like they actually genuinely wanted to get to know me.

Which was why I couldn't believe that Jimmy kept apologizing to me after it was over, but I think he was still embarrassed over the _chair thing_ with his dad and also the baby picture thing.

Then again I understood where he was coming from, but that didn't mean I didn't have a nice time.

After putting away my outline, I kept looking over at my nightstand stand. As I stood up and walked over to get the particle atomizer controller Jimmy gave me that I hid inside my nightstand drawer, I looked at it for a second before I smirked a little.

Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it since this freaked me out the first time he pulled this on me, but… this has also made meeting up with Jimmy secretly _a lot_ easier since I actually have a direct means of transportation to and from the lab. Also… I couldn't help but feel kinda _special_ in some way.

Jimmy actually trusted me enough to show me how to use one of his inventions and give me direct access to his lab… and that he _actually_ admitted he trusted me with his lab more than Carl and Sheen.

Then again, I can think of a lot of things I wouldn't trust Sheen with especially so I totally get where he's coming from at the same time there.

Jimmy told me I could come over any time I wanted… I bit my lip as I turned off my lights and shut and locked my bedroom door to make my parents think I was sleeping as I stood by my night stand again and pressed the button, seeing the bright flash and then in the next instant being in Jimmy's lab.

"Oh hey! I was just about to text you to see if you were still coming over?" I heard and saw Jimmy take off a set of lab goggles as he smiled at me.

"Why? Did you think I was going to bail on you?" I teased, just messing around with him. He shrugged and said back, "I never said that."

We both laughed a little bit until we walked closer to each other and hugged.

Sometimes I still think I'm dreaming or under some insane delusion of grandeur that all this is actually happening. I mean, not only are Jimmy and I actually getting along, but we're also dating?

Honestly I would've deemed anyone who thought that before as clinically insane, but now… who cares?!

At first I thought he was going to kiss me when we backed away from the hug, but then he backed off a little and just ended up holding one of my hands as he said, "Um, I set up the other corner of the lab to watch a movie. Flurp, popcorn, candy, and I picked out a movie if that's okay? How does the new Jet Fusion movie sound?"

I squeezed his hand a little back as I said, "Sounds good to me. Speaking of Jet Fusion, do you still work with the B.T.S.O.?"

Jimmy smiled a little and shrugged and explained, still holding my hand as we walked over to the other side of the lab, "I honestly have no idea? They haven't contacted me in years for helping with a mission since Jet has been able to handle things without needing help. It feels like there was a lot more craziness that happened years ago than now. Not that I'm really complaining? I've had so much more time to focus on my inventions for the past couple years and it's been great! Although, I do kind of miss the concept of going on adventures and missions to make things more interesting."

"Even though all of us have almost gotten maimed or died multiple different times in the past from said adventures?" I point out, more joking than anything.

I could tell Jimmy caught that as he gave me a look but there was a slight smile behind it as I added, "Just saying."

We both let out a laugh as he said, "I know, I know. But, you know what I mean, right? It's good to do something different sometimes to keep things interesting."

We both sat down on the couch as I took a second to think about what he said before I smirked and reminded him, "I don't know? I thought that spontaneous date to see the Aurora Borealis was _pretty great_ for an adventure."

I wasn't even just saying that. That was probably one of the nicest and most incredible things anyone has ever done for me.

I saw Jimmy's face turn red a little bit as he smiled at me and said, sounding really genuine, "Well, I-I'm glad you liked it… Anyway, ready to watch the movie?"

I was wondering why he was being kind of _off_ a little bit right now, but I just decided to look over it as I said, "Go for it!"

I settled into the couch and as the movie started up. After about 5 minutes, Jimmy slowly reached his arm over to go over my shoulders.

After a moment I couldn't help but stop myself from smiling as I leaned my head into the crook of his neck, getting settled in.

_**90 minutes later** _

The movie was over and the credits started rolling as I heard Jimmy say, "That was good but I think I preferred _Die Again Tomorrow For..._ is something wrong?"

I think he noticed me hardly listening to anything he was saying since I was deep in thought about something else.

"Oh sorry, it's just that I was thinking, but… whatever it's stupid." I said, trying to brush it off. Seriously, even I thought it was stupid… and especially it was stupid that I spent most of the movie thinking about it for no reason at all.

"Why? What is it?" He asked, actually looking genuinely interested. I rubbed my arm a little as I admitted, still feeling completely ridiculous, "Okay, I know we're both trying to keep things secret and we both want to, but… I don't know? I guess I kind of wished we could've gone to Homecoming and danced and… just forget it."

It was deafeningly quiet for several seconds until Jimmy asked, "Why? Do you want to dance?"

"Look, it's okay, it really doesn't…" But before I could finish, Jimmy cut in as he said, "Vox, play audio code 9.7-4." I was about to open my mouth again to ask what was going on when music started playing, soft/slow music.

Then Jimmy held out a hand to me and smiled in that cute boyish way I remember from when we were still in elementary school, clearly offering for me to dance with him. I couldn't stop myself from smiling back as I reached out and grabbed his hand as we both stood up.

"Hope you don't mind the music? I may not be as _inept_ at dancing as Sheen, but you know I'm not really a _dancing_ kind of guy so… hopefully you can understand why most of my confidence would be with slow dancing." He explained as he led us to a more open space in the lab.

But, I totally knew what he was getting at.

Mostly that I knew Jimmy actually dancing was a rare occurrence at that, but I had to respectfully disagree about his dancing.

In my opinion, I never thought Jimmy was a bad dancer. Then again anyone compared to Sheen when it comes to dancing is practically Fred Astaire.

Again, yet another reason why I have no idea why Libby likes Sheen, especially considering she's probably the best dancer at our school at this point. I tried to shake that out of my head since Sheen is the last thing I want to be thinking about right now.

Also, why should I be complaining at all since this was _exactly_ the kind of dancing I wanted to do with Jimmy right now anyway?

I smiled and shrugged as I moved my hands up to his shoulders as said, simple but to the point, "No complaints here, James."

He smiled at me again as he slowly put his hands on my waist and as pathetic as it made me admit… even him just doing this kind of thing with me makes me go crazy and I have no idea why. Okay, fine, I know exactly why and all my friends _love_ to rub it in my face for that reason.

And they don't even know we're dating!

We started to move in a slow circle together as we just settled into a relaxed rhythm.

It was about a minute before I closed the distance a little bit and leaned my head against his chest as we kept dancing. Neither of us were saying anything, but I was totally okay with it since everything just felt _nice_.

It was still quiet except for the music until I heard Jimmy say, "Actually Cindy… as long as we're making confessions here and at the risk of sounding completely pathetic… I don't know, you'll probably laugh at me or something." I quirked up an eyebrow as I backed up and questioned, looking him right in the eye, "Why? What's going on?"

He looked away from me for a second and bit his bottom lip a little bit, looking like he was really deep in thought and really thinking through what he wanted to say.

"Um… hello?" I asked, almost getting annoyed by him not answering me now, especially since he kind of killed the moment by bringing this up.

Also, I'm not going to deny that I still felt like something was _off_ with him.

He whipped his head back to me and started, "Oh, uh, sorry. It's just… I don't know? I know we've been doing this for a month now and I really, really like this. But… okay. Cindy, there's something I want to ask you about. It's probably completely ridiculous that I feel like I'm making a bigger deal about it than I should, especially since we haven't exactly gone public. But I…"

"James, do you value my opinions?" I cut in. He gave me a confused look now as he answered, "Well, yes, of course I value your opinions, Cindy."

"Then spit it out and just tell me!" I said, getting even more flustered and frustrated.

_Seriously, what is going on with him?! What could possibly be making him act like this about asking me something?!_

"Okay! Okay! Sorry! This just isn't something that's exactly easy for me. This question is outside of my usual _scope of practice_. It's just… you're the only girl I've really dated and I don't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing." He explained, looking really nervous and it only making me more confused and nervous about what the heck is possibly going on?!

After a moment, Jimmy let out a deep breath and then finally looked me in the eye as he said, "Okay Cindy, I know we've only been going out for about a month and I just want to ask you something. Would you maybe… want to make this with us more _serious_? You know, like being boyfriend and girlfriend? I know it really doesn't matter since no one really knows. You know, except for our parents of course, but I…" "Yes." I cut in immediately to keep him from going on a pointless, long winded tangent about it.

Jimmy gave me a surprised look and almost looked like he did a double take for a second as he asked, "Wait, what?"

I felt bad about laughing for a second, but… honestly, I was also surprised by how automatically I answered that question.

After all, he was right.

It's not like it entirely mattered _what we were_ since no one really knows about us dating anyway. But… I don't know? I thought it was actually really sweet of him to ask me if I wanted us to be boyfriend and girlfriend.

And… it's not like I was… _opposed_ to the idea?

I just smiled a little and reiterated, "What? I said yes. What's so unbelievable about it?"

"No sorry, it's just… I just had no idea if this would've been something you'd be okay with? After all, just looking at everything from an objective standpoint I just…" He rambled until I just kissed him to stop him. I pulled away for a second as I said, "Jimmy, just take it and go with it."

We both laughed for a second until I think he took the hint and leaned back in and kissed me.

I also just realized I accidentally called him 'Jimmy' instead of 'James', but considering how he was acting right now… I think it hardly registered to him that I accidentally slipped.

Also, to be fair… I didn't care either right now. _Really_ didn't care.

We kept kissing, or at least that's how it started until we ended up making out. Honestly, I don't even know what happens to me when we're like this? It's like us kissing never ends up being _just a kiss_ since every time we do this, especially down here in the lab, I feel like all I do is throw away all the self control I have and we both end up just being _all over each other_.

Although, then again, it's not just me that happens to since Jimmy and I seem to almost _feed off_ each other when we're like this together.

Sometimes I question if this makes me pathetic but then again… _Who cares?!_

I wrapped my arms around his neck more as I leaned into him. Although I think I caught him off guard a little bit as he stumbled back but then I heard him run into a lab table since I heard a slightly surprised grunt come out of him and beakers clink but luckily nothing broke.

We both let out an involuntary laugh at what just happened as we kept continuing with the situation.

I felt his arms go around my back and pulled me closer to him that made me let out an involuntary sigh.

Eventually I felt one of his hands slowly slide up my back until he got to the back of my head until I felt his hand trying to take my hair out of my scrunchie. Emphasis on _trying_ since he kept pulling on my hair too much and eventually I couldn't take it as I reached back really quick and just took out my scrunchie and tossed it aside before bringing my hand up onto the back of his head as he did the same to mine.

Okay, he may not know how to take out any kind of hair tie… but ugh, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like the feeling of his fingers going through my hair like this.

He broke away from me for a second as he worked his way down to my neck and I let out a laugh when he got to a particular as I said, still laughing a little, "James…"

I heard him laughing a little bit with me until he came back up and we both just kept kissing. We kept going on with the situation until all of a sudden, over the music, we heard a loud " _KA-CHINK!"_ that made both of us freeze and stop dead in our tracks.

We were both still holding onto each other and just stared at each wide eyed and stoic.

Well we did until we both hesitantly and pretty much painfully slowly looked in the direction where we both heard the sound come from.

Right when we looked over I felt myself immediately go into a state of shock as my stomach sank and I slowly became more and more livid.

_Libby?... and Sheen?! AND A PHONE?!_

**(Sheen's POV)**

_Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap… DANG IT?! I'M SO SCREWED!_

Jimmy and Cindy were staring at us through the window and we all just kept... _staring_ at each other until I couldn't take it anymore as I panicked and grabbed Libby's hand and yelled, "RUN!"

"Sheen!" I heard Libby let out as I started almost dragging her out with me.

I didn't know what I was doing? All I knew was Libby and I had to get out before we got even more busted. I was about to get us to the exit when… I can't move.

_DUDE, I CAN'T MOVE!_

All I could move were my eyes and I saw this blue force field thing that I knew was from one of Jimmy's inventions.

I'm pretty sure Libby was stuck in it too since we were still holding hands and she didn't feel like she was moving either. Then we were swung behind us back to the lab entrance and hit the floor while getting tossed out of the beam thing.

It didn't hurt but I fell on my butt pretty good. I looked over at Libby who was looking at me until we both slowly looked in front of us and saw Jimmy and Cindy staring us down and Jimmy holding one of his ray gun things.

 _Crap…_ _We're toast…_

It was dead quiet until I let out a laugh and said, "H-Hey Jimmy. Fancy seeing you here. Nice ray gun thing! That new?"

But Jimmy didn't even answer anything as he and Cindy kept staring us down.

Well until Jimmy finally said, "No, I've had it a while… and apparently it's not the only thing that's been around a while."

_Uh…. crap. Welp! We're dead!_

"Well, you see… it's actually a funny story." I started before Cindy stepped up and gave me a hard death glare.

"Oh really? _A funny story_? Well, your face is going to turn into a _funny story_ if you don't give me that phone right now and delete that picture!" Cindy spat as she charged up to me and I scrambled away and ran as I said, "No way! You'll never take me alive!"

_I've had this bet going for 6 years. NO WAY am I giving up the proof!_

I was holding my own pretty good… until Cindy cracked her knuckles and gave me a look like she literally wanted to murder me.

I gulped, knowing Cindy could totally kick my ass into the next year if she wanted to… as much as I hate to admit a girl can beat me up. But with Cindy… I gotta give her props. Cindy's a black belt in some kind of _choppy socky stuff_ and that kinda makes her a bad-ass in my book.

I started yelling and was about to run away when Libby stepped in front of me and said, "Cind, hold up. Don't be coming after me and Sheen when you're just gonna _gloss over_ what you guys were doing?"

Okay, I know we're still kinda screwed right now, but… _Man, she's so hot when she's assertive like that._

Cindy back tracked for a second as she looked off to the side, looking nervous but trying to put up a front before saying, "Well, I… I mean… What are you talking about?"

Libby gave her a _look_ , kinda like the one she gave me yesterday when I told her I got suspended for streaking at the football game.

I just kept watching as Libby crossed her arms and kept giving Cindy _that look_. Cindy's face started turning red and she bit her lip.

I looked behind her at Jimmy and he looked like he was _freaked out_. His face was as red as his shirt, his mouth was open a little bit, and he wasn't moving. He looked like a weird statue as his ray gun thing fell out of his hand on the floor.

"So… too busy to come to the dance with _debate team stuff_ , huh?" Libby said, recrossing her arms again.

"Libby, c'mon, Jimmy and I were just…" "Sucking each other's faces off? Or was Jimmy just helping you _practice_ some _debate strategies?_ Or is it some other full it excuse?" Libby said, sounding pretty snarky.

_Whoa…_

Cindy looked like she was backtracking BIG TIME as she put her hands in front of her and said, "L-Libby, c'mon. Please don't tell anyone about this. If everyone at school knew, they'd never let us live it down."

"CINDY! For the last time, get over yourself! You have been in denial about this for years… BOTH OF YOU HAVE! And I am DONE!" Libby yelled, practically losing it.

I almost never see her angry about stuff which is crazy.

I decided to do something to make sure we both got out alive as I said, "Look guys, here. I deleted the picture off my phone. See? Are we cool now?"

I think Cindy and Jimmy were still in total shock at Libby exploding that none of them even moved or said anything. Then I was even caught off guard when I heard Libby sigh and grab my hand as she gave Cindy one last _look_ before saying, sounding _done,_ "C'mon Sheen, let's go."

We kept walking and got back outside of the lab.

It was quiet as I asked, kinda getting freaked out, "Uh… Libby?"

We stopped walking as I heard her let out a deep breath before saying, turning around to look at me, "Sorry, Sheen. I think I'm done for tonight."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and started to walk away when suddenly stopped and asked, "Hey wait, do you want a ride home?"

I thought about it for a second before I looked next door at Carl's house, getting an idea. "Nah babe, I'm good. But, thanks anyway Libs." I said, trying to keep it cool.

I know normally she would've asked me what I was doing but she seriously looked just _done_ as she walked away back to her dad's car across the street.

Slowly I felt a smirk come on as I walked next door and climbed up the gutter on the side of the house to Carl's room.

**(Carl's POV)**

"Oh Carl, I'm so sorry. My parents are asking me to help with the llama feed. I call you later, yah?" Elke said, looking behind her outside.

Even though we have a 7 hour time difference, we both really try hard to find time to talk. She asked if I didn't mind if she called me before she started her early morning chores on her family's farm as long as I didn't mind staying up later.

I really miss being with Elke on her farm… and the llamas.

"Oh yeah, that's okay. Say hi to Agnes for me." I said, remembering my favorite llama from her family farm. "I will. Goodbye Carl. Love you!" She said and blew me a kiss.

I smiled as I caught it and put my hand on my cheek and said, "Love you too." Elke smiled before signing off of her computer and I closed my laptop.

I put it on my nightstand with my glasses before yawning. Elke was worth staying up late for, but… I'm really tired.

I got under the covers and started to fall asleep. I closed my eyes until I heard loud banging on my window followed by a loud, "Carl! Wake up! Let me in!"

I screamed and got so scared I fell out of bed onto the hardwood floor left shoulder first.

"Ow!... My scapula…" I said, feeling like I was in agony.

I looked over to the window and luckily I fell out of bed close enough to my glasses and was able to put them on as I saw Sheen at my window, giving me this _weird smile_.

I finally got off the floor and opened my window as I said, "Sheen! What was that for?! I fell out of bed and landed on my scapula… it still really hurts."

All I kept doing was rub my shoulder as Sheen said, "Oh man, this is something you're gonna want to hear."

She gave me that weird smile again and laughed to himself.

I gave him a confused look as I asked, "Sheen, can't it wait 'til morning? I'm tired." Sheen gave me a smirk as he said, "Oh trust me, you won't want to sleep after you hear what I got to tell you."

"Sheen, what's going on? You're really scaring me…" I said, feeling freaked out.

Sheen put a hand on my shoulder as he said, "What if I told you that I just saw Jimmy and Cindy being _all over each other_ in his lab?... And that you owe me thirty bucks, so pay up!"

I rolled my eyes and pushed his hand out of the way as I snorted and said, "Yeah right? I'll believe it when I see it."

I was gonna walk to bed when Sheen said, "Oh really? Then take a look at _this_."

Sheen shoved his phone into my hands and I gave him an annoyed look before looking at the screen and my mouth falling open in shock at what I was looking at.

_No… way…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! Looks like there was some serious busting that happened, especially for Jimmy and Cindy now that both Libby and Sheen know… and now Carl apparently. I'm sorry it took so long to do Carl's POV, but I was just waiting for the right moment and to introduce his POV into the story. Also, it wouldn't be a quality Carl Wheezer moment without one of his signature catchphrases, particularly about his scapula. Haha. XD Also, I've always been really interested at how much it takes Libby to get angry and I wanted to tackle a situation where her usual even temper is tested. And I can see her feeling kind of put out if Cindy lied about dating Jimmy to her for what seemed to be a while, especially considering they're best friends. Also, the fact that Cindy makes jabs at her liking Sheen at times… yeah, I can see how even Libby would eventually lose her cool to a degree. Also, looks like Sheen was sneaky and didn't delete the picture… or did he? Haha. ;) Anyway, what will happen next? What will happen with Jimmy and Cindy now that their friends know? Will Libby and Cindy talk things out? Stay tuned for all these answers and more next time! Thank you all for reading and constructive reviews are always very much appreciated. :)
> 
> Stay classy and stay safe out there everyone!
> 
> Dexter1995


	18. Outed, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To start… seriously, you have no idea how blown away I am by how many of you guys I still see following this fanfic and growing! It is so flattering to know you guys are still with this fanfic after all these years. Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to explain something concerning Cindy and Jimmy. While maybe not Jimmy so much as Cindy, through out the series Cindy has shown signs of being insecure of herself despite her stubborn confidence. She especially seems to have shown these signs of slight insecurity when it comes to her feelings for Jimmy. So, as I wrote Cindy being a high school student, I could just see her repressed insecurities of her being made fun of for showing any signs at what she deems her weaknesses festering until it turns into paranoia that she is displaying now. But, all will be further delved into in a bit as you read on. This chapter begins with Cindy reflecting on what happened during the weekend after her and Jimmy were caught together by Libby and Sheen. Enjoy!

**(Cindy's POV)**

I was trying to eat a bowl of cereal in the kitchen, emphasis on _trying_.

My thoughts were going a thousand miles an hour and all I heard was the kitchen clock ticking and making me feel like I was about to just lose it like a character out of an Edgar Allan Poe poem.

All I kept thinking about was everything that happened last. And not even just what happened with Jimmy and I getting caught.

Well, that's what I've been mostly thinking about...

I know to any other person, Jimmy and I's _outlook_ on anyone finding out about _us_ may seem ridiculous, even I'll admit that it is. But, that's just because of what we both dealt with and why we agree on it.

Ever since elementary school, everyone has teased us and messed with us about each other constantly.

Sleepovers especially were like a constant _tease fest_ with all my friends relentlessly pointing out how I crush on Jimmy BIG TIME.

Yeah, they aren't wrong… ugh, but I hate it when they're right.

Pretty much since it only justifies why they tease me about it. And I know better than anyone, especially now, that Jimmy understands that too since Carl, Libby, and Sheen would constantly point it out to us.

And according to Jimmy, he was teased about us even when I wasn't even around by Carl and Sheen.

_Ugh… Sheen…_

Seriously! Why does Libby even like him?! He's such an annoying spazz who constantly gets himself in trouble over the stupidest things. He's even suspended from school this week because he decided to Streak across the football field at halftime!

Plus he even took a picture of Jimmy and I last night and she was _actually_ defending him?! You gotta be kidding me!

I haven't seen Jimmy or left my house yet this morning so far because I'm so paranoid about everything and the fact I haven't heard anything from anyone other than Jimmy texting me.

Libby's been silent since she kind of _lost it_ on us in the lab.

I slapped both hands to my face, trying to figure out what to do.

Have to leave the house sometime, right?!

I decided to just quit while I was ahead as I slapped my hands down on the breakfast bar and put on the most determined look I could manage.

I'm just going to go outside for a run and no one's going to stop me.

I was already in my exercise top and running shorts so I was set to head out. Once I got my shoes on, I just did some light stretching in the front yard on my legs to limber up like I usually do for track.

As I started running, I started thinking of the 800m record that I was hoping to finally break this year if it killed me. Considering I also have the relay records locked and the pole vault record sewn up for the school track and field records… I was determined.

I started running and luckily didn't encounter anything but people driving past me in cars.

The park was pretty sparse too once I got there, which surprised me for a Sunday morning at 10:40 am since usually a lot of people are here on the playgrounds or walking around on weekends.

It was a pretty hot morning though, even for Retroville in the fall, as I stopped and took a drink from a drinking fountain.

I kept taking a drink until all of a sudden I heard laughing behind me. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Nick, Wendall, and Butch laughing in my direction.

Well, choking back laughs like a bunch of immature idiots. I narrowed my eyes at them before turning around and put my hands on my hips as I directed, walking closer, "What are you dip sticks laughing about?"

I would have thought that would have gotten them to stop laughing at me, but they just kept laughing and finally I got so annoyed that I just exclaimed, "What?!"

Finally Nick looked at me and gave me a sly smirk as he remarked, "I think you know, Cindy." He winked at the end and that only made all of them laugh more, making me clench my teeth in annoyance and rage.

_Ugh… why did I ever have a crush on him in elementary school?!_

"Enlighten me then?" I said, trying to regain my cool.

"Well, I'm just saying, I think it's funny to see you out for a run when it looks like you got _work out_ hooking up with Neutron." Right after Nick said that, all of them started bursting out laughing now.

Wendall even turned his back me and wrapped his arms around himself and started making over exaggerated kissing sounds, making an immature pantomime of what was clearly two people making out, only making Butch and Nick laugh even more.

At that moment, I felt like my whole body went into a state of shock as my stomach clenched.

_Oh… crap. I should've known..._

I felt my face go red in anger and embarrassment as I clenched my fists.

They kept laughing, but I tried to even myself out as I walked up to them and Wendall turned back around right when I got there.

His eyes went wide as I stood there in front of him.

I smiled as I looked at him before just giving him one good punch in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him as he fell to the ground.

Nick and Butch looked down before looking back up at me. I crossed my arms before asking, "Anyone else have anything to add?"

Both of them just went wide eyed and looked at each other before looking back at me as Butch said, putting his hands up, "Ah, nah, we're good."

I gave them all one last glare before I turned around and just decided to start jogging again, even though I was panicking.

I was about to stop once I rounded the corner into downtown Retroville and call Jimmy since I had no idea what else to do right now… until I heard more laughs.

Except this time I slowly looked over to only to see a couple sophomore girls I knew from school looking in my direction and snickering before they kept walking.

At first I had no idea what was happening until it just kept getting _worse._

As I jogged, I ran into several more people from school who all did the same thing. I just tried to ignore everyone looking at me and snickering until I rounded a corner and almost ran right into Brittany.

I stumbled back a little until I saw a smirk cross her face, the same one she always used when she'd tease me about something.

But, I tried not to give her the satisfaction since it was clear by now that everyone knew about me and Jimmy… and I can only _guess_ as to _how_ everyone knew.

So, I just relaxed my stance and said, "H-hey Britt, what's going on?"

She still held that smirk on her face as she said, "Oh like, not much. Or… at least not as much as you got going on with _someone_."

She laughed a little as I felt like my stomach was slowly sinking out of my butt.

I couldn't take it anymore as I just took off running as Brittany kept trying to call after me to come back.

No way was I going back there though!

Not unless I wanted to die from embarrassment of all the teasing she was probably going to do.

I kept running until I got back into the neighborhoods.

I stopped for a second as I put my hands on my knees and bent over slightly to catch my breath since I practically went in an all out sprint for a good stretch.

Maybe it was extreme but I just had to get away from there.

I couldn't take one more second of feeling like I was a laughing stock.

_UGH! I knew this would happen!_

I looked around and trying to figure out where I was until I saw I was on Poplar street.

I stood there for a couple seconds until I gulped and turned the corner onto Libby's street and saw the Folfax's house right in front of me.

Slowly I felt that twisting feeling in my stomach come back, but for a totally different reason this time.

I gulped as I slowly climbed the stairs on the front stoop before hesitating multiple times before just ringing the doorbell.

The door started opening and I was hoping to have it be either of Libby's parents or her brother just to make things less awkward.

But, with my crappy luck today… none of that happened.

Libby was standing right there. Celebrity gossip magazine in hand before her eyes went wide and both of us just… _stared_.

Libby and I almost never get in fights with each other, but after she _went off_ on me and even Jimmy a little bit down in the lab last night… I didn't know what I was about to walk into right now.

It was so quiet and awkward between us that if we had the ability to make it into energy… we'd be able to light up an entire city.

I awkwardly looked at the ground before grinding my left cross trainer into the porch a little until I heard Libby say, "Hey."

I looked back up before saying, just as short and uncomfortable, "Hey."

Honestly, I was a little surprised.

Yeah, Libby's probably the most grounded person I know, but I was surprised I didn't hear anything _angry_ about her right now.

Actually, she looked just as awkward and confused as I did. It was quiet again before I decided to just swallow my pride and ask, "Um… can we talk?"

It was quiet again before she just nodded her head for me to follow her inside.

My feet were practically on autopilot at this point as I followed her down the hall and through the kitchen until we got to her backyard.

I knew exactly where she wanted us to go as we sat down next to each other on the conversation set couch underneath their patio umbrella.

We had about 3 feet between us since we both sat on opposite ends.

It was awkwardly silent again until the back door opened and Mrs. Folfax was there as she said, her usual kind southern belle type demeanor coming out of her, "Libby, you didn't say Cindy was coming over today? I'll get you girls some cookies and lemonade."

"Oh that's okay Mrs. Fol…" I started until she said, "Oh no baby, I insist! It's not even noon and the sun is burning hot already. I'll get you girls something so you don't melt away out here."

Before we could say anything Mrs. Folfax went in and came back out just as quickly with a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses with a plate of chocolate chip cookies on a tray.

Mr. and Mrs. Folfax have always been _big_ entertainers, which shouldn't be surprising since Libby and her brother are known for having the best birthday parties in town.

Libby's sweet 16 last year was an all out block party with music and the full 9 yards.

I would know since I helped her and her parents get the whole thing together.

Heck! Even when it isn't even a party, her parents just go all out. Even like now when I just stop by, her mom always offers us something and brings it to us.

But, I know that's just because they enjoy entertaining and you'd have to be an idiot to not see where Libby got her _life of the party_ personality from.

"Thanks mama." Libby said, putting on a front like I was since you could practically feel how awkward and tense we felt from space.

"Yeah, thanks, Mrs. Folfax." I added, just trying my best to be polite and normal.

Luckily Mrs. Folfax didn't seem to think anything was up as she said, "Oh you're so welcome! I'll be inside if you girls need anything, okay?"

We both said thank you one more time as Libby's mom went back inside and it was just us being consumed by awkward silence again.

I bit my lip, trying to think of what to possibly say right now since I had no _game plan_.

I was practically sitting on my hands and biting my lip until I was totally blindsided when she said, letting out a sigh, "I'm sorry, Cind."

Right as she said that, my head snapped to look at her so fast that I thought I gave myself whiplash as I stuttered in confusion, "Huh?"

I had no idea what was happening now.

If anything, I felt like I should be the one saying sorry or something. I could tell she could see how confused I was as she said, "I know, I kind of _went off_ on you guys. But… look Cindy, you're my best friend and I'm going to be straight up with you like I always do, okay? And that's just… Why didn't you tell me?!"

I let out a sigh.

_Great._

But, I straightened up and clenched my fists before explaining, "Libby, are you kidding? Where have you been for the last 12 years?! You know more than anyone how much people have made stupid teasing jabs at me and Jimmy since elementary school… _you_ included! So are you really that surprised that Jimmy and I were so paranoid to tell anyone? I mean, c'mon! You and Brittany get on a roll with teasing me about Jimmy at every sleepover we've ever had AND Sheen's had that stupid bet about us that he got pretty much the whole school in on about me and Jimmy. Also, I'm pretty sure he cleared it and told everyone and didn't delete that damn picture to use practically as freaking blackmail! So I'll ask one more time… do you blame me?!"

It was quiet again before she looked me right in the eye and said, "Look Cindy, don't get me wrong, I know where you're coming from. But it's like I told you. Both of you guys, you and Jimmy, made this whole thing into _a thing._ Ever since Ms. Fowl's class, you both have done nothing but just keep being in denial, getting really defensive, and had this insane _love/hate_ thing for each other. You guys caused it to become a _thing_. But you know what Cindy? Now… you just gotta own it. Is everyone probably gonna be on you guys now? Yeah, probably. But you just gotta get over it and just show everyone you don't care. Cuz trust me, you aren't the only one who had this kinda stuff goin' on. You and everyone else teasing me about liking Sheen ringing any bells?"

Right when she said that… I just stopped.

I didn't know how to respond to that.

Sure, and again, I just can't wrap my head around what she sees in Sheen… but she's also right.

Everyone would tease her about liking Sheen, including me.

I kept thinking until I had a thought hit me as I asked, "Are mad because I didn't tell you I was dating Jimmy?"

She crossed her arms, looking at the ground, before admitting, "Honestly, yeah, kind of. Yeah, I kinda get it, but… I don't know? Especially if something was up like this and you asked me not to say anything, I would've respected that. Especially after I was always straight up with you right when I started going out with Sheen."

_Ugh… crap. She's right._

I sighed before reiterating out loud, "Yeah, I get it. You're right. I should've told you. I'm sorry."

It was quiet for a second before I turned to face her and asked, "So… if I tell you what's been going on? Can we call it even?"

Libby looked right back at me and I was surprised to see her smiling at me as she said, "Yeah, we're good. I'm sorry for going off on you guys too."

Almost automatically we both gave each other a hug before admitting something I wouldn't admit out loud to anyone but her, "It's okay. I probably had it coming."

We both laughed about it as we both pulled back from the hug before she said, "So… _James_ , huh?"

She was teasing me a little with a smirk, probably hearing when I called Jimmy _'James'_ when we were in the lab. I shoved her a little as I rolled my eyes and said playfully, "Shut up."

We both started laughing before I told her about everything that happened over the past month with me and Jimmy.

How we started dating after that first time we made out kind of on accident in his lab, how we've been going out on dates outside Retroville, and also how he asked me if I would call him _James_ when it was just us.

Then I told her about everything that happened this morning with everyone from school that I saw in town when I was out on my run.

I also told her especially about what happened in the park with Butch, Nick, and Wendall… and that I also punched Wendall in the stomach, which she didn't seem surprised about since she knows _me_ and also knows what kind of jerks they can be.

I kept thinking about it until I just grunted and said out of frustration, "Ugh, Sheen is such a rat! I should've known he was lying when he didn't delete that stupid picture!"

Right after I said that Libby put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Look Cindy, I get it and I'm not happy with myself since I kinda let him do it… but it's not like you couldn't've seen it coming? Sheen's had that bet going for 6 years and pretty much everyone in the school went in on it since you and Jimmy were _always_ in denial. Just saying, you guys practically poured gasoline on a fire. Especially now that I actually know how much he actually made from it."

I snapped my head over as I commented in anger and frustration, "Wait, he _actually_ made money off that stupid bet?!"

"Yeah, $430 worth so far." She said back as I almost choked on a sip of lemonade before coughing out in shock, "What?!"

"Again, not saying I'm cool with it, but… I'm just saying?" She said, putting her hands up slightly in defense.

As much as I hated to admit it… she was right.

After wrestling with a bunch of thoughts in my head, I slumped back into the patio set couch cushions and just said, "Well… my life is over."

"Cindy, c'mon. Yeah, I still gotta get over to Sheen's to talk to him about _all that_. But, girl… it's done. You and Jimmy just gotta step up and face it now. All you gotta do is not give anybody the satisfaction of getting to you guys." She explained and rolled my eyes as I responded, very sarcastically, " _Yeah_ , that's great and all Libby. But how the heck can we do that?! By Monday, Jimmy and I will be like some kind of circus attraction at school!"

Libby looked like she was thinking for a second before she smiled and gave me a look like she had something.

_Well… this should be interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it seems like Cindy and Libby were able to get things straightened out between them. :) But the only question now is, what does Libby exactly have in mind. Next chapter will focus on Jimmy's side of the situation. Also, in my fanfic universe, a lot of the events that happened in season 3 never occurred. For example, Lady Sings the News never happened in my fanfic for obvious reasons and as shown in said episode, despite Libby being a gossipy person, I could see her being a good friend to Cindy in that she would have kept Cindy's secrets since it seems the only reason she bared all about everyone in the show was because she was just letting the fame and popularity of her being on the town gossip session go to her head and was then sincerely sorry for it later when she saw how much it hurt her friends. I always liked Libby just because even though she's only human and makes mistakes, she really is a good friend and always owns up to her actions. :) Anyway, thank you all for reading and constructive reviews are always appreciated.
> 
> Stay classy and healthy everyone!
> 
> Dexter1995


	19. Outed, Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the chapter for the boys side of the situation that happens during the same duration of time as the previous chapter. Please read to the end in the ending A/N note for some important information regarding this fanfic. Enjoy!

**(Jimmy's POV)**

This has been an infinitely strange morning… and also mildly unnerving.

I kept trying to fiddle around with a circuit board on my desk in my room since sleeping in this morning was not a possibility, but my hands keep shaking and I can't keep any of my tools steady.

Eventually I started spacing out at it until I felt Goddard nuzzle my leg to pet him. I smiled and pat him on the head, thinking this was as good of a distraction as any.

Well, until I saw something catch my eye out of my window.

_Cindy._

She was in her front yard in her workout clothes, stretching… something I'm mildly ashamed to admit that I've watched her do from my bedroom window on several… okay, _multiple occasions_ before this.

I kept looking at her until I heard smooth jazz saxophone music and looked over and saw Goddard was playing it as he wagged his tail with a playful look about him.

I gave him a slight look with a smirk initially.

Aside from my parents up until now and even before, Goddard pretty much always knew about how I _felt_ about Cindy since elementary school.

Luckily though, since I programmed him with all the software of being the ultimate _man's best friend,_ he maintained his loyalty to me to keep that _knowledge_ a secret. Even though the _rambunctious canine_ portion of his software personality attributes seem to come through at times like this since he's caught me and _teased me_ in his own way whenever I looked at Cindy like this.

Which usually I'd playfully brush off with him, but this time wasn't the same.

"Sorry boy. I'm not in the mood for that today." I said, trying not to lose my self-control. Goddard complied and stopped the music as he tilted his head at me and I just gave him one last pat on the head as I said, "Thanks Goddard."

I looked back out of the window at Cindy again and honestly I was more just intrigued to see her leave her house after what happened in the lab. That and she's been texting me constantly about how she's freaking out. Not that I blame her since I'm pretty much there too.

Well, maybe I'm more paranoid than freaked out actually.

Maybe she's just trying to run to work off her stress?

But as for me... for once I have no idea what to think.

Last night was insane.

Particularly when Sheen and Libby caught us and Libby practically had a meltdown, which was rare to say the least about Libby when it comes to her getting angry.

Last time I saw her that angry was when all of us trashed her parent's house on accident on her 12th birthday when we were being chased by the copbot from the future. Which to me was understandable since that was my fault in particular and again we trashed her house.

Honestly, I think we mostly got off easy because of Sheen.

Considering Sheen profusely apologized to her and wrote her possibly the longest apology letter I've ever seen. After that though, all she had us do was clean her house and then it was like _all was forgiven_.

_Ugh… Sheen…_

I gripped my hands into my hair as I looked at the floor, just processing.

Well until I heard the doorbell and then heard my mom saying she was getting it. I was about to go back to my _introspection_ when I heard mom call out, "Jimmy! Carl's here!"

I threw my head back for a second and groaned in frustration with my right hand over my face. I _really_ didn't want to go downstairs, but… it's Carl. What's the worst that can happen?

"Coming!" I called back before getting out of my desk chair and speed walked down the stairs until I got to the front door that mom partially cracked shut.

I opened the door and sighed before starting, "Hey Carl, what's…"

"I'M SO SORRY, JIMMY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" Carl practically screamed out in apologetic mania as he was on his knees clutching the hem of my shirt.

I brushed his hands off me as I asked, part annoyed and part confused, "Carl, calm down. What are you talking about?"

He still looked like he was very apologetically upset as he started rambling on, "I-I… I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T KNOW! Oleander just asked me what was going on and then, and... I-I… I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON!"

"CARL!" I yelled over him, trying to get Carl under control. "Sorry…" Carl said, seeming like he was starting to get some of his emotional control back.

"Carl, what are you talking about?" I asked, trying to straighten out what was exactly going on.

"Well… Sheen came over last night and showed me a picture of you and Cindy and then I saw Oleander when dad asked me to go out to get the paper and then… and then… I DON'T KNOW?! It all just slipped out!" Carl exploded as I froze as I recalled something from last night.

* * *

_"Look guys, here. I deleted the picture off my phone. See? Are we cool now?"_

* * *

I immediately felt my eyebrows knit together as my fists clenched on reflex at my current _revelation_.

" _Sheen…_ " I said under my breath.

I think Carl realized I wasn't listening to anything else he was saying as I heard him inquire, sounding unsure, "Um… Jimmy?"

"Carl, c'mon." I said, shutting the front door behind me and ran out to the shed I built several years ago next to the clubhouse to house my hover car and some of my other inventions, mainly since mom asked me if I could move them out of the garage since her and dad wanted to park both cars in the garage.

Well, it was getting ridiculous, considering I had to modify the hover car to double its size to make it look like more of an actual car since all of us got too tall to fit in it.

But, I keyed in the code and got the hover car out as I looked to Carl, knowing I looked as angry and determined as I appeared since he was giving me a weary look, "Let's go Carl."

Carl kept giving me a weary expression but climbed into the hover car anyway as he asked, "Um… where are we going?"

"We're finding Sheen." I said, very to the point as I stepped on it and took off as fast as I was able to as I swerved out of the backyard.

I knew I was violating all traffic laws, but I didn't care.

I was angry.

"Jimmy, can we slow down? I'm starting to feel a little…" But, then I stomped on the brakes when I got to the front of Sheen's house and saw him on the front porch.

He was sitting on the steps with a smirk on his face as he licked his finger tips before leafing through this sizable stack of cash in his hands, that I inferred immediately _where_ the money came from.

I immediately felt my eyebrows knit together again as I hopped out of the hover car and immediately made my way toward Sheen. Though I had no plan and had no idea what I was going to do… I was just angry.

I stopped in front of Sheen and my shadow covering him brought his attention to me finally as he tried to hide the stack of cash behind his back and his facial expression changed entirely.

"Uh, h-hey Jimmy. Wha-What's up?" He stuttered, clearly not wanting to address anything. But, I wasn't trying to mess around. I got right to the point as I said through my teeth, clenching my fists, "You told everyone about me and Cindy?!"

He stumbled back, putting his hands out in front of him, as he defended, "NO I DIDN'T! The only one I told was Carl."

"Oh really?! Then what about the picture that you said you supposedly _deleted off your phone_. Liar!" I directed, getting in his face.

"BUT I DID! The picture isn't in my phone anymore." He said, until he looked down and let out a nervous laugh before admitting, "But, I _maaayyyyy_ have not deleted it off of my cloud yet when I showed Carl."

I didn't know what was going on with me anymore.

All I felt was my anger fully take over me as I lost all control until I lunged at Sheen and tackled him into his front stoop. "JIMMY!" I vaguely heard Carl yell behind me and I was actually surprised when I felt Carl pull me off of Sheen right as I was about to throw a punch.

"Let go Carl!" I demanded, thrashing around as I was still fixated on Sheen. I was actually surprised that Carl was able to hold me back.

"Jimmy, seriously! I didn't go out and show anyone but Carl!" Sheen said defensively.

"OH REALLY?! Then where did all that money come from?! The tooth fairy?!" I retorted sarcastically, still beyond infuriated.

"Jimmy, I swear! I didn't!... Okay, I did show people when they came over to ask about it and wanted to see proof, BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!" He said defensively, crossing his arms.

"Oh you…" "STOP IT! STOP IT! IT WAS ME!" Carl yelled, letting go of me and totally started losing it.

Sheen even looked surprised and I froze as I turned around and both of us looked toward Carl.

"You what?" I asked, incredibly confused by what was going on.

Carl looked like he was about to fully lose it.

"I was trying to tell you! Sheen told me and showed me the picture and then I ran into Oleander and then Butch heard it and asked me about it from the other side of the street and then Ike found out and then… AH! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" Carl yelled out, falling to his knees and looking toward the sky as he gripped his hands into his hair.

It was dead silent as I took in all that.

But, as I kept processing everything and as much as I wanted to go off on Carl for telling everyone about me and Cindy… ugh, deep down, I knew I couldn't.

I've been friends with Carl and Sheen since were little kids and I knew Carl could never keep any secret to save his life.

Especially since I know he doesn't do it purposely or out of any malicious intent… Carl just has a complete lack of self control when it comes to secrets.

Then there's also the fact that he is the worst liar I've ever met.

I was still processing everything until I heard Sheen say behind me, "Huh? I was wondering why Butch, Oleander, and Ike all showed up to my house asking to see the picture at 9 am?… and everyone else after them."

Then I remembered why I was angry in the first place as I pointed out/exasperated, "AND YOU JUST SHOWED THEM THE PICTURE?!"

Sheen just shrugged at me and said, "Well, yeah, they wouldn't give me any money without seeing proof. So I just showed them the picture on my phone."

I gave him a hard look and crossed my arms until Sheen responded, "What?"

I let out a hard sigh before saying, "Sheen, did it _possibly_ occur to you that Cindy and I were in my lab to _maybe_ keep things secret? How did you and Libby even get in my lab anyway?" Sheen just shrugged again before finally admitting, pulling the small bag with my hair in it out of his pocket, "The emergency hair you gave me and Carl."

My mouth fell open a bit before I shut my eyes tight, pursed my lips, and tilted my head up toward the sky in exasperation, totally forgetting how I gave Carl and Sheen some of my hair several years ago to get in my lab just in case they needed it if something happened to me.

"Jimmy, what's the big deal? It was just a picture. I didn't even post it on anything and I was gonna delete it anyway later after I got my money. Besides, I'm with Libby. You and Cindy really gotta get over it since it's not like we didn't know you guys had a thing. So what's the problem?"

I was about to turn to him and tell him exactly _what the problem_ was, until we heard, "Hey guys."

We all turned to look and all of us collectively froze when we saw Cindy and Libby on the edge of Sheen's front lawn.

It was dead silent as we all kept looking at each other until I heard was sounded like running and a door slamming shut. I looked behind me and saw Sheen retreated into his house as we heard the front door lock, probably thinking Cindy came over here to beat him up.

Which wouldn't surprise me if she did since… and honestly she could probably do it quite easily with her _skill set_ in martial arts.

As hard as it used to be for me as a kid, I can easily admit this now. I may be a little ahead of Cindy as top of our class in school, but she is and always will be way better than me at any form of athletics.

Right then I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to see it was Libby as she asked, sounding a lot more like her usual calm and level headed self, "Jimmy, do you have anything that can unlock the door?"

I gave her a confused look and stuttered out a 'huh?' as she elaborated, "Just trust me. I got this."

I gave her a perplexed look and debated about how I felt about breaking into Sheen's house. Well, until it occurred to me again how Sheen got in my lab and took a picture of Cindy and I without asking… I didn't even say anything as I looked at my watch and scanned through the settings until I found the lock pick function and got the pick lined up just right with the lock.

 _Click_.

I got the door opened and just let Libby go ahead with Cindy following her, her expression unreadable. But, I noticed Libby was holding something in her hand that made me do a double take.

_A bag… of frozen corn?_

But, I was intrigued as I kept following and I could feel Carl following too right behind me. We all got upstairs and saw Sheen hiding behind his bed.

Libby was standing right in front of Sheen.

**(Sheen's POV)**

I looked up and saw Libby standing there, just looking at me.

_Uh… yeah…_

I knew there wasn't any other way out as I got out from behind the bed and tried to stay cool as I started, "Uh… hey Libs, what's happening?"

She crossed her arms and just kept looking at me.

_Yeah… I knew this was coming._

"Okay Sheen, Cindy and I were talking and she agreed to let everything be forgiven on _a few_ conditions. You genuinely give her and Jimmy an apology, you return all the money to everyone from the bet, and you delete the picture… _completely_." Libby said and I immediately felt my stomach drop as I started, "Aw, but Libby! I've been working on that bet for 6 years! You can't possibly… OW! OW!"

She immediately grabbed my left ear and started twisting it and I eventually caved as I said, "OKAY! OKAY! FINE!"

She let go of my ear and immediately pushed me toward Jimmy and Cindy. Both of them were looking at me as they simultaneously crossed their arms.

I gulped before caving, hating it that I had to give up everything. But… man… I guess I did pretty much sell them out?

I sighed before saying, "I'm sorry guys. I get it. I took that picture and let everyone see it without asking. I'll get rid of the picture and I'll give all the money back, okay?"

It was quiet until Cindy said, "Apology accepted, but Libby forgot to mention my _other term_ for there to be complete forgiveness about the _whole situation_. Particularly after being pointed at like a freak show and laughed at in town today."

I gave her a confused look as Libby walked over next to her. It wasn't until now that I noticed she was holding a bag of frozen corn that I tilted my head and pointed to it as I asked, totally confused, "What's the bag of frozen corn for? What? Are we gonna make a cream corn casserole or…"

Before I could even finish, Cindy grabbed my shoulders and then kneed me right in the crotch so hard that I immediately fell on the floor holding myself.

I almost felt like I couldn't breathe as I saw Cindy smirk a little before saying, "Okay, _now_ all is forgiven."

She then just walked out and I just saw her immediately grab Jimmy's hand, who looked like he was still trying to figure out what just happened like I was as I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes by how much that hurt.

Carl looked like he just started following Jimmy and Cindy out of the room and kept asking for them to wait up. I was still on the ground until Libby got down to my level and helped me sit up and just handed me the bag of frozen corn.

_Oh…_

I took the bag and put it on my lap. It helped a little bit until I looked over and just saw Libby looking at me, and giving me _that look_ again.

_Oh… man…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Cindy seemed to get her revenge on Sheen in just the sort of impulsive way we'd expect from the tough and feisty Cindy Vortex. Lol. But more importantly, I just wanted to elaborate on a couple things. I really love all the characters in this show for how human they all are. During multiple times in the show, all of them have made mistakes but learned and moved on from them to try and become better people. Now Sheen's kind of an obsessive and impulsive character who doesn't think things through, but that doesn't make him a bad person. I just wanted to show how he'd overlook things in this moment over a little greed and make some less than smart and conscientious decisions per say when it came to Jimmy and Cindy's relationship… more particularly how he made the decision to prioritize the bet he had going over his friends and has only now just recognized that. But, next chapter, let's just say all the characters will have their own revelations in their own situations. ;) Also, I just wanted to show how even Jimmy, a pretty even tempered guy, could even lose his temper if he was pushed enough. And also wanted to show how the secret got out due to both Sheen's moment of greed… and Carl's inability to keep any secret under wraps. Poor Carl! We know you can't help it! Haha. XD Anyway, next chapter will be the final chapter of Permutations; however, it will not be the end of this fanfic series since I completely intend on writing a sequel! :D I will elaborate more on it in A/N of the next chapter, but the planning for it is already in the works. ;) Anyway, thank you all for taking the time to read and as always, constructive reviews are always welcome and very much appreciated!
> 
> Stay safe, healthy, and classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	20. Resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I'm going to make my opening extremely brief but I just want to personally thank all of you again for joining me in his 5 year long ride with this fanfic, but this is not the end! :) I'll explain more in my ending A/N about the sequel. For right now, sit back and relax with the final chapter of Permutations. Hope you all enjoy!

**(Carl's POV)**

We were all riding back in the hover car.

Well, I was going back with Jimmy and Cindy.

All I kept saying was sorry and they kept saying it was okay, but… I JUST FEEL BAD! I was going to say sorry again until we got back to Jimmy's backyard and he parked back in the shed.

We all climbed out of the hover car and I just kept following them as they started going toward the lab.

"I mean it guys. I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to..." Before I could finish Cindy just turned around, looking really annoyed as she yelled, "CARL! For the last freaking time! We forgive you! Just shut up already!"

I froze up as she turned back to go to the clubhouse before Jimmy walked up to me as he put a hand on my shoulder and let out a sigh before saying, "Sorry, but Cindy's kinda right, Carl. It's done now so just try to forget about it. Look, I'll see you later, okay?"

After that Jimmy caught up with Cindy as they walked into the clubhouse, holding hands again. I just stood there, looking around, trying to figure out what to do?

Guess I could walk to the petting zoo and see the llamas?

**_20 minutes later_ **

**(Jimmy's POV)**

After we got into the lab, Cindy told me about everything that happened after she went on her jog this morning.

Everything from what happened with Butch, Nick, and Wendall at the park to running into a lot of other people from school downtown to talking everything out with Libby. Also, about the _idea_ that Libby had.

"Wait, she said all she wants us to do is just… what?" I asked, still not comprehending what she wants us to do or how that would even help.

"I know, it sounds way too simple. But… What choice do we have?! Since everyone in the school knows, I… I don't know? But, right now, what Libby told me is all I got." She said, leaning against one of my lab tables and resting her forehead in her right hand with her left hand almost cradling her left elbow, looking very deep in thought and still pretty freaked out.

I mean… not that I blame her since I'm still there too.

Even though I don't know why? It's not like I haven't been made fun of or ridiculed before on a large scale… multiple times.

But, I don't know?

This is just _different_.

Libby was right about a lot of the things she said and maybe she's even right about using this particular _strategy_ , but it's just confusing.

This wasn't how I wanted any of this to happen, and neither did Cindy for sure. It's just… I feel like nothing about my life has ever been uncomplicated and this current _situation_ only proves it.

I mean, just look at this!

Cindy and I _just_ became boyfriend and girlfriend last night and yet we're just freaking out in my lab right now trying to brace for the inevitable onslaught of teasing we are _sure_ to endure tomorrow at school.

But… that didn't mean I regret anything we've done up until now.

This past month has honestly been one of the greatest months of my life so far. Mostly because I finally knew where Cindy and I stood with each other now rather than going to school everyday and have us just fight for no reason at all. Sure, we still did it to _keep up appearances_ , but we both knew it was just an _act_ to keep up, which made it kind of fun in a way. That was all over now though.

Cindy looked like she was still thinking and also looking like she was trying to chew off her bottom lip simultaneously.

I just went on instinct and walked over to her and leaned against the lab table too as I started, "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt? At this point, everyone knows, right? We might as well see this as some sort of _social experiment_ to see if this will work. Or at least help with _damage control._ "

I slid closer next to her and waited until I saw her look at me and give me a confused look as she asked, "Seriously, how are you able to be so calm about this right now and all I feel like I want to do is crawl in a hole or spontaneously combust, especially after this morning? Yeah, I agree that it needs to be done, but… ugh! I just hate this!"

I gave her a confused look back as I responded, "What? You think I'm not freaking out either? Because if you think I'm not then… I don't know what you think then? All I've done from the moment Libby and Sheen caught us has been freaking out. I may not be showing it, but since last night I couldn't sleep, relax, or even work on anything to take my mind off it. Every time I picked up any of my tools and tried to work on something, my hands just wouldn't stop shaking and I'd immediately have to put them back down. All I keep doing is trying to distract myself. Sure, so far I've accomplished nothing with it, but what else can I do?!"

It was silent until Cindy finally said, sounding a little guilty, "And having me text you out of paranoia like an insane person also probably wasn't helping… sorry."

I looked down saw she put her hand over mine that was closest to her on the lab table. As much as this probably would have surprised me to have her say sorry like this back when we were kids, this was what I meant before.

After getting to know Cindy personally when we're alone, I realized she's actually a genuinely nice person… well, until you push her buttons like we both used to do to each other as kids.

Then again, what else would you expect from two kids that are stubborn, intelligent, and competitive in a school setting?

I smiled and turned my hand over to hold hers as I responded, "It's okay. Like I said, I was freaking out too, but I just deal with it differently. Honestly, I'm still pretty freaked out."

I rubbed the back of my neck with my other hand as Cindy admitted, "Yeah, same here… but you're right. And Libby's right. Both of us just staying down here and freaking out isn't going to do anything. Tomorrow… we just gotta _rip off the band aid_ and take it."

I smiled at her again and nodded in a agreement until I thought about something and then asked, "By the way, why didn't Libby come along to talk to us about this together and stayed back with Sheen?"

Cindy smirked after awhile before saying, "Oh trust me, after everything we talked about, let's just say we had a little _plan_ in mind for that too. Well, Libby did anyway."

She chuckled a little to herself as I tilted my head at what she was alluding to.

**_Across town at the Candy Bar_ **

**(Sheen's POV)**

_Ugh… I was so close! But… ugh, dang it! I_ kinda _knew I had it coming though._

I kept looking at everyone standing in front of me at the Candy Bar, lined up to get their money back after Libby put out a post about.

But, it was almost over. I was down to the last 5.

Even though giving back all the money felt like it was ripping me apart. This was one of the first bets I ever made and cashed out big time on. I got almost 500 bucks by the end of it!

But, now that I think about it… man…

Finally I got to the last one in line as Libby pushed over the last of the cash.

_Nick._

He was giving me a smirk as he held out his hand, waiting for the 50 bucks back he had staked on the bet. But, I decided to have fun with this one as I gave him a smirk and look back as I took out 20 and just gave him back 30.

Nick looked kinda pissed as he said, almost getting in my face, "Hey! What the hell, Sheen?! I gave you 50!"

I leaned forward and said, still having fun with it, "Yeah, ya did. But you owed me 20 from the past 2 times."

 _Hey, just because I was forced into giving money back doesn't mean I was gonna give_ all of it _back. Especially back to rats like Nick who owe me money… and I'm also still pissed about him interrupting what Libby and I had_ going on _in the van at the drive-in_.

Nick looked over at Libby and I did too, but she just kept filing her nails like she's been doing the whole time while listening to music with her earbuds in.

She looked up at us for a second, knowing she got the gist, as she shrugged and said, "I'm stayin' outta this one."

I smirked and kicked back a little in the booth as Nick gave me one last scowl before snatching up the $30 and stomped off.

I looked down at the 20 bucks in my hand as I said to myself, "Heh! _Sucker_."

I was gonna reach in my back pocket to put the $20 in my wallet until Libby took out one of her earbuds and said, looking at the empty table, "Well, that's it."

I looked back at the table before throwing my head back and groaning, "Why is life so cruel?!"

"Sheen, look, I get it. But, this was the only way I could think of to get Cindy to forgive you… and me. That and I knew it was the right thing anyway. You deleted the picture too right?" She asked.

I lifted up my phone without even looking at her as I said, still feeling like I was robbed, "Yup... Erased off everything I got."

It was quiet until I looked down and saw her hand on mine that was resting on the table.

I looked over at her as she smiled a little and said, "Thanks Sheen. Also, sorry about what happened earlier with Cindy _getting you_. I tried to hope she wasn't gonna do it, but… somehow I'm not surprised."

I knew she was talking about Cindy hitting me _where it hurts_ … man, even right now I can still _feel it._

But, I tried to brush it off as I said, "Yeah, that makes two of us… but, no problem, Libby." We both smiled for a second until Sam came over and yelled, "Hey! Are you kids just gonna free load or are you gonna order somethin' before I tell you to beat it, yeh!"

_Eh… might as well?_

"Yeah, whatever. I'll take a chocolate shake and a burger. You want anything, Libs? I got this." I offered. "Well… I gotta get home soon, but sure. Why not? I'll take a chocolate shake too."

Sam gave a us a look before grumbling something as he walked away.

"Is it just me, or is Sam becoming such a crotchety old coot… you know, more than he was before?" I asked until I winced as I heard Sam call out, "I heard that, yeh!"

Libby just laughed and that made me smile a little bit.

Sam brought over our order and Libby left to go home after finishing her shake and gave me a kiss on the cheek but… I just kept sitting there.

I looked at the clock and just put some cash to cover the bill before walking out to the van, knowing what I _had_ to do.

**_20 minutes later at the Neutron residence_ **

**(Jimmy's POV)**

I opened up the hood on the hover car and decided to take the opportunity to do some routine maintenance.

Cindy had to go home for dinner and I had to go in for dinner too, so… my evening was free and I didn't have anything better to do at the moment.

So, why not take the extra time to be constructive?

Besides, the hover car is going to technically be an _addition_ to the plan for tomorrow.

I tried to just shake it out of my head as I started looking around. I'd rather just cross that bridge once I come to it tomorrow.

I decided to top off the tank with more F.U.N. fuel and then take a look at the engine.

After a quick glance, I grabbed a monkey wrench before looking under the hood.

At least my hands weren't shaking uncontrollably anymore now. So that's something, right?

I was about to dive in and get to work when I heard, "Uh… hey."

I whipped my head behind me to see Sheen, standing in the doorway rubbing the back of his neck and giving me a slightly awkward smirk.

I stood up and faced Sheen as I returned, sounding hesitant, "Hey."

We both just stood there in awkward silence, but after everything that happened and especially after I almost tried to beat up Sheen earlier… that's to be expected at this point.

Sheen looked down and his eyes went wide as he said while pointing, almost like he was elaborating on my thoughts, "Are you gonna hit me with that?"

I looked down when I realized he was pointing to the monkey wrench.

I lifted it up a little to look at it before looking back at Sheen after pondering for a few moments before saying, "Earlier maybe, but after what Cindy _did_ this morning?... yeah, hitting you with this would be overkill in my opinion."

Sheen let out a nervous laugh, but I didn't.

We just stood there before I decided to try to distract myself as I started working on the hover car.

I was tooling around with the engine until I saw Sheen lean on the right side of the hover car with his hands partially inside the hood.

"Hey Jimmy… I'm sorry."

I whipped my head over and saw Sheen looking at the ground and rubbing the back of his neck as he kept going, "You were right. I let the bet go to my head with all the money I was going to make from it…"

He stopped when he noticed me giving him a look as he said, sounding defensive, "What? I gave it all back! But, hey that's not the point!"

"Then what Sheen?" I asked pointedly, not seeing what exactly he was trying to get at.

"That taking that picture was low and I'm sorry!" He yelled at me in his usual manic exasperation.

We were quiet for a few seconds before I looked over and just asked straight out, "Then why did you even do it?"

Sheen pursed his lips for a second before rubbing the back of his neck and saying, "Look Jimmy… it's like Libby keeps saying about you guys. All you and Cindy did was be in big time denial about you guys even though it was totally obvious. And the only reason why I even started that bet wasn't even on purpose. I just said it as a joke once to Carl in the hall after you and Cindy had another one of your _love-hate fights_ again with each other and then everyone around us just started betting and… it just kept growing. It was insane! Everyone wanted in on it even though I thought nothing was gonna happen. But… then I saw you guys last night and then I started thinking about the money and… I don't know? Well, I do. I messed up."

I looked back at the engine and started contemplating everything I just heard as I unconsciously just shut the hood before hearing Sheen let out a yelp.

He was biting his bottom lip and his fingers on both hands were slammed under the hood.

My eyes widened on reflex as I managed, "Sorry!" I frantically opened the hood of the car as Sheen pulled out his hands. He slowly started moving around his fingers and still looked like he was holding back from uncontrollably yelling in pain. After a second of clenching and unclenching his fingers as he said, his voice sounding so high it was like he was in a state of perpetual inhalation, "It's cool… Had it coming." After Sheen figured out his hands were okay and he could finally talk again, we both ended up sitting on the hood of the hover car in silence.

After a while I heard Sheen start, "So… why didn't you say anything about you and Cindy?"

I gave him a slight look and just asked, "Are you serious?"

Sheen put his hands up before responding defensively, "Hey man. I'm just saying. I get it, but I'm with Libby when she said that you guys really need to get over yourselves and stuff. Besides, what's the big deal? Yeah everyone is gonna be on you guys a little bit? Yeah. Is it probably going to suck a little bit. Yeah, probably…"

"Sheen, what point are you trying to make right now?" I asked, confused about where exactly he was trying to go with this.

He thought for a second before looking at me and shrugging and saying, "I don't know? But, either way, who cares? You and Cindy like each other, what's the big deal? You both are a bunch of type A, overachieving brainiacs so… yeah, duh. Yeah, Cindy kinda freaks me out sometimes, but that doesn't mean I care if you guys hooked up or anything? Me or Carl. So I guess, what I'm really trying to get at is… are we cool?"

He held out a hand to me and I looked at it for a second before I smirked and responded, "Yeah, we're good."

He smirked back as we grabbed each other's hands and pulled each other in for a quick hug and then clapped each other on the back.

Honestly, as much as I was mad earlier, I knew I couldn't completely deny the truth about the whole situation going on right now.

Especially after what Cindy told me about what Libby said with us _creating our own beast_ basically and… in all honesty, she isn't wrong.

Even Sheen was right about a lot of the stuff he said. Besides, no matter what, Sheen's one of my best friends and he and Carl always had my back when no one else did, just like I always had their backs when they needed it.

Also, after what Cindy did to Sheen this morning... I think he learned his lesson.

We separated as Sheen said, "So… what are you and Cindy going to do at school tomorrow? It's not like I'm gonna know since I'm suspended until next Monday."

"Well… about that…" I started.

**_The next morning_ **

**(Cindy's POV)**

Jimmy and I just pulled into the parking lot at school in the hover car.

All I kept doing this morning was almost doing these tai chi based breathing exercises.

_Ugh this is so ridiculous!_

All we're doing is going to school and I feel like I'm a soldier in world war 2 preparing to storm the beaches of Normandy for crying out loud!

I was so lost in thought that I almost didn't realize Jimmy even parked as I heard him say, "Ready?"

I looked over at him and sighed before saying, "Not really, but I guess I'll have to be, right?"

After that Jimmy hopped out of the hover car and opened up my side door and held a hand out to me.

I looked up at him a little and was surprised to see a slight smile on his face as he admitted, "That's okay. If it's all the same to you, I'm not really ready either. So… shall we?"

After a second, I smiled back and took the offer as I grabbed his hand and responded, "Let's."

_Hey, it may be public humiliation, but at least we'll be equally humiliated together, right?_

All this just seemed too simple though.

Ugh, why did Libby actually think this was going to work? And why did I agree?!

All she told us to do was come to school together and hold hands while we're coming into the school.

Then she was just really cryptic about the rest of it.

She just said she'd _take it from there._

I wish she'd just tell me so I didn't feel like I was going to vomit out of nerves right now.

We both stopped in front of the front entrance for a moment after getting through the parking lot _unscathed_.

We both gave each other a nervous look for a split second before I felt Jimmy squeeze my hand, whether it was from nerves or reassurance… I decided to go with the latter as I squeezed his hand back.

I let out a sigh before reaching for the door and saying, "Okay, let's get this over with."

We walked through the doors together and surprisingly a lot of people didn't notice… well, at first.

Right after we would walk by, we noticed a lot of people going quiet and we could already feel _stares._

We both tried to keep walking on, but as we kept walking all I could feel like I wanted to do was run away and have a nervous breakdown.

But, considering the amount of sweat I can feel coming off Jimmy's hand right now and his fingers tensing up around my hand.

_Well, at least both of us feel like we're having a breakdown right now._

Right as I felt like I was going to lose it, "Hey guys. You guys still up for a double date with me and Sheen this Friday at Retroland? You know, since his suspension will be over by then."

Jimmy and I both froze up.

We both looked at each other, trying to figure out what exactly to do or what was going on until… "Wait, what? How long has this been going on?"

I looked over and saw Courtney Tyler looking at us confused. Finally I got the ability to speak as I responded, "Why? Does it matter?"

_Look, I may be subjecting myself to intentional public humiliation, but dammit I was not about to be cross examined right now by the the editor of the school paper and to have her make a stupid editorial piece about me and Jimmy._

Right then Libby jumped in and said, "Yeah, what? You didn't know until just now? Anyway, so, you guys in?"

All I could feel were all eyes on us in the atrium, but I just sucked it up and said, trying to sound as normal as possible, "Sounds good."

"Count us in." I heard Jimmy say after being nothing but silent this whole time.

Even though I could still tell he was just as freaked out inside as I was right now.

"Great! Hey, I'll see you guys next period." Libby said and walked by, giving me a subtle wink.

After a while I saw this group of sophomore girls huddled up and snickering and looking at me and Jimmy as we passed by.

At that moment I felt something in me snap as I directed, "What?" They all stopped and just stared, and I realized everyone else around us was also staring or snickering at us until finally I just snapped at everyone, "Why don't you all just _take a picture_? It'll last longer."

After that I involuntarily walked into an adjacent hallway after realizing the irony of my previous comeback, practically dragging Jimmy with me, and happened to run into Wendall of all freaking people.

He stopped dead in front of me and nervously fixed his glasses, probably still remembering when I knocked the wind out of him at the park and knocked him on his butt.

He put up his hands and said, stuttering out of nervous fear, "He-hey guys. Um… I'll… I'll just go, uh… this way!"

After that he started to run and ended up almost falling over a trash can in the hallway before continuing to sprint, getting yelled at by a teacher along the way.

Eventually Jimmy and I both exchanged a look together before continuing to walk as I heard Jimmy say, "Well… that actually could've gone worse."

"Yeah," was all I was able to say as we both kept walking together to our lockers in the junior class hallway.

I mean, Jimmy wasn't wrong and I'd have to be an idiot to think all of this was just going to disappear, but now I finally understood what Libby was getting at.

She wanted me, and even Jimmy, to just stop lying to ourselves and to just give us a push.

After all, if what happened just now proved anything to me and even though I'm still freaked out about us just going public like this, I wasn't going to let this stop me from doing what I wanted.

And I really want to be with Jimmy.

Sure, it's probably going to be like this for us at school for a while… but, I've been through weirder situations with Jimmy.

Why should this be any different, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know this may not seem like much, but that's because I really wanted to make sure I started the first several chapters of the sequel off on a bang. :D But, I hope you enjoyed the SheenxLibby interaction as well as Jimmy and Sheen talking things out. Also, it seems that Cindy and Jimmy realized Libby's plan was just the push they needed to not be afraid to face their 'problems' head on and not care what anyone else thinks. Even if the acquired results may not be instantaneous. Haha. But, this was just the beginning! Now that all the pairings are established, I have now gotten to the point of getting to do what I've been wanting to do for years! In the sequel, I plan to expand on all the characters and their relationships as they encounter adventures, conflict, and villains who will put all of them to the test. Think of it as a more elaborate and aged up version of the show with my more 'slice of life' style thrown in. Although, I need your guy's help! Depending on what you guys think will help me shape the story. I wanted to ask if you guys would like the sequel to either contain some more mature content/issues to bump it up to a M-rating… or if you guys would prefer me to continue keeping it at more of a T-rating level? Either way, I want to give all of you guys the say in how you feel about this since I want to give you guys something you would enjoy reading, especially after all the hiatuses I've forced some of you to endure. I apologize. Lol. Just let me know in the reviews or a PM if that makes you more comfortable. Either way, be on the lookout for the sequel Catalyst in the very near future! :D Thanks as always for reading and hope you enjoyed the fanfic!
> 
> Thank you all so much and stay safe and classy!
> 
> Dexter1995

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? Thank you so much for reading and please let me know if you would like me to continue. Reviews are always appreciated. Have a great night!
> 
> -Dexter1995


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